Officials of a private hospital allegedly called in goons, who opened fire to disperse a patient’s relatives seeking shelter under a shed on hospital premises amid heavy rain on Tuesday night.

Relatives of the patient, Paramita Kundu, claimed that authorities of Bibhuti Bhushan Hospital on Jessore Road in Bongaon, North 24-Parganas, denied them entry under a shed on hospital premises because of Covid fear.

Paramita’s husband Souvik Kundu said no one among them was infected.

Though no one was injured in the firing, Paramita’s father Tushar Halder fractured a leg when the goons allegedly roughed him up, and was hospitalised elsewhere in the town.

Police rushed to the spot after being told about gunshots in the hospital. The police started a case against hospital authorities, but no one has been arrested so far.

Officials of the hospital managed to flee.

Trouble erupted late on Tuesday when relatives of Paramita, who delivered a child on Sunday, entered a covered area inside hospital premises to avoid the rain.

Security personnel of the hospital allegedly tried to push them outside. When the family members refused, hospital authorities allegedly summoned goons who arrived in minutes and started assaulting people under the shelter and began to fire indiscriminately.

Paramita’s husband Souvik said he came to the hospital to get his wife discharged. “We were waiting since afternoon, but hospital authorities delayed getting her (discharge) papers ready,” he said. “The process went beyond visiting hours and it started raining. So we and some others went under a shed within hospital premises but security guards tried to push us away, saying we might spread Covid-19. This led to an altercation. Suddenly, armed goons arrived and opened fire.”

Paramita’s brother Suranjit Halder said the goons beat up his elderly parents. “My father fractured his leg ,” he said.