Violence rocked the Kadamtala area of Ghughumari near Cooch Behar on Monday morning as a section of locals who had resorted to a road blockade attacked a police team.
Police had to resort to lathicharge and also burst teargas shells to bring the situation under control and disperse the attackers.

Two police personnel have got injured in the incident while two local residents have been detained for perpetrating violence. Policemen have been deployed in the area to prevent further breach of peace.

Sources said about a week ago, a local girl who works as a housemaid was allegedly raped and attempts were made to murder her while she was returning home.
The victim is still under treatment at the hospital. In her complaint, she has accused four youths who are from the same area, for the crime and has named two of them.

“Till date, the police have not arrested any of the accused youths, even though she has identified two of them. That is why we had raised a road blockade today, demanding that they should be immediately arrested,” said Dulali Roy, a housewife who had joined the protest.

At around 10am, over 100 residents raised the blockade on Cooch Behar—Mathabhanga state highway. They carried placards and banners, and went on shouting slogans over the demand.

The sudden blockade halted traffic movement along the route, prompting a team of Kotwali police station to rush to the spot.

The policemen approached the protesters and asked them to clear the road. The latter however denied and the blockade continued. “A specific case has been registered at Kotwali police station in connection with the earlier incident. We are conducting raids to nab the accused but they have absconded from the area,” said Sumit Kumar, SP, Cooch Behar.

As the police officers who had been to the spot insisted that the locals should disperse and that the police are probing the case, an altercation ensued and soon, a section of locals attacked the policemen with bricks and stones.

Two policemen got injured in the attack. Soon, additional forces rushed to the spot and the police charged the protesters with batons. Also, some teargas shells shot to disperse them.

After some time, the highway got cleared. The police then conducted raids in the area and detained two persons. “Raids are going on in the area. The police are also doing area domination at the locality. Situation is peaceful now,” the district police chief added.

Nikhil Ranjan Dey, the local BJP MLA, has alleged that the police are delaying in arresting the accused and claimed that they are Trinamul supporters.
“If the police had arrested them, today’s incident should not have happened. We want the police to release all those who were detained today,” said Dey.

Trinamul leaders have denied the charges. “Criminals do not belong to any political party. If the incident has happened, the police will surely arrest them. But the residents should not indulge in acts like attacking the policemen,” said Khokon Mian, a district Trinamul leader.

Meanwhile, in another incident, a team of Mathabhanga police station has recovered nine crude bombs from Thakurpara, a locality under Pachagarh panchayat of Mathabhanga.
The recovery of the bombs has made the police to launch a combing operation in the whole area to find out whether more such bombs are there in the locality, said sources.

Bangladeshis sent back

Two Bangladeshi minor boys hailing from Dinajpur district of the neighbouring country were apprehended by troops of the 61 battalion of Border Security Force (BSF) in South Dinajpur on Sunday. During questioning, as officers of BSF learned that they had inadvertently crossed the international border, they contacted Border Guard Bangladesh and after some time, handed over the duo to them through a flag meeting.

In the past one year, a total of 29 Bangladeshi nationals who had crossed the International border by mistake have been sent back to their country by the north Bengal frontier of the BSF, said sources.