Police from Bihar allegedly fired in the air on NH27 in North Dinajpur district on Friday afternoon after a section of local residents tried to prevent them from taking away a youth.

The Bihar police, local people said, fired five to six rounds and a villager was injured. Officers of the Islampur police district have reached the spot and initiated a probe.

Sources said Nur Alam, a youth who is in his mid-twenties from Bilatibari, a village under the jurisdiction of Chakulia police station of the district, had been to Dalkhola to sell corn, in a tractor and carriage.

“While he was returning with around ₹2.5 lakh, he found that a team of Bihar police was checking documents of vehicles on the highway at Bilatibari. They stopped him and asked for the documents. As I got the information, I reached the spot with the necessary documents,” said Abu Jahana, Alam’s brother.

Bilatibari is located around 75km from here. However, it is only 5km from the Bengal-Bihar border.

He alleged that despite showing the documents, the police team from Kishanganj said they would arrest Alam.

“They also alleged that we are running a stolen tractor. As we protested, they suddenly fired in the open. We ran for shelter and meanwhile, they whisked away my brother with the cash and fled the spot in two vehicles,” Jahan added.

A person who was nearby was hit by a bullet and is under treatment at the health centre in Chakulia, he claimed.

Policemen from Chakulia police station and Rabindranath Biswas, the subdivisional police officer of Dalkhola, went there.

“We recovered three empty cartridges. The Bihar police had not intimated us before conducting the check on the highway. We are contacting our counterparts in Bihar,” Biswas said.

Later in the evening, the Kishanganj district police issued a press release where it was mentioned that people had attacked a police team while arresting a person, prompting the team to fire two rounds in the air.

It also confirmed Nur Alam's arrest and mentioned that five police personnel got injured in the attack. An inquiry has been initiated in connection with the incident, said the release.