A crowd attacked and assaulted a Bangladeshi youth seated in a police vehicle and tried to take away a woman who had eloped with him, at Caltex More in Malbazar town of Jalpaiguri on Tuesday afternoon.

Additional police forces reached the spot to disperse the crowd and control the situation.

Police officers are interrogating the couple, said sources.

According to sources, a few months back, Kamal Ahmed, a 30-year-old resident of Tangail district of Bangladesh, got introduced to a 21-year-old Muslim woman from Jalpaiguri district through social media. In due course, they got into a relationship. Ahmed proposed marriage. The woman reportedly assented. Ahmed reached Malbazar on Monday with his passport and a valid visa. The woman came to meet him. Reportedly, she decided to elope with him, without informing her family.

As she went missing, her family members filed a police complaint. On Tuesday afternoon, a police team in Malbazar, which is a good distance from her home, spotted the duo near the local super-specialty hospital. They were detained and taken to Malbazar police station.

The duo were asked to board the police vehicle to take them to the area where the woman lived, but the vehicle developed a snag at Caltex More.

The woman's agitated family got the information that the duo were traced. They and some neighbours reached Caltex More. Some of them dragged Kamal outside the vehicle and beat him up as the police personnel got outnumbered. They also tried to take away the woman.

Additional forces from Malbazar rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. The duo was brought back to Malbazar police station.

“We have information that the Bangladeshi youth is associated with a human trafficking racket. He has married thrice earlier. This time, he is trying to take away our girl in the pretext of marriage,” said one of the protesters.

Kamal denied the charge. “We had an affair and I came here on her request. We want to get married,” he said.

Police sources said the duo are being interrogated. The information has been passed to Kamal’s family in Bangladesh.