The five men arrested in connection with the attack on junior doctors of NRS Medical College and Hospital will be in police custody till June 18.

The five — the youngest a 19-year-old and the oldest a 45-year-old — have been charged with rioting and voluntarily causing grievous hurt with dangerous weapons, police said.

The charges carry a maximum punishment of life in jail.

“According to their statements, they had gone to collect the body of the deceased person in a lorry but the doctors refused to provide them with the death certificate unless there was an apology from their side,” an officer of Entally police station said.

The death of 75-year-old Mohammad Sayeed had triggered violence on the NRS campus on Monday night, leaving at least two junior doctors injured.

Since Tuesday junior doctors across the state have been on a ceasework to protest the attack.

The police have received two more complaints in connection with the violence. Both complaints are against junior doctors. The police are “verifying facts”.

The five from the patient-party were arrested within hours of the attack.

The protests by junior doctors had prompted chief minister Mamata Banerjee to condemn the protest that had left emergency service in the state paralysed.

“Five persons have been arrested…. We have already done everything we could. What more do you want?” she had asked during an interview on ABP Ananda on Thursday.

An investigator said the arrested men had told cops that they had not not assaulted or heckled any of the doctors after hearing of the patient’s death.

“They are alleging medical negligence against doctors. But at the same time they are claiming they did not resort to violence after the patient had died,” an officer said.

“There was an argument. But it was the junior doctors who chased us with hockey sticks and chains later at night when we went to claim the body,” the officer quoted one of the arrested as saying.

According to the statements of multiple witnesses, including the police officer on duty at NRS on Monday night, it is clear that the doctors had demanded an apology from the patient’s relatives as a precondition for releasing the body, the officer said.

“There was every possibility of violence if we had allowed the patient party to go to the ward and apologise to the doctors waiting inside,” another officer said.

“So, we had negotiated and requested the doctors to step out and meet them at a common place. But as the cops were taking the relatives to the doctors, some doctors chased the group. The patient party automatically retaliated.”