The manager and other employees of a tea garden in Alipurduar district were confined and assaulted by a group on Wednesday evening.

The attackers also vandalised the office of Beech tea estate in Kalchini block.

Sources said a few days back, eight sandal trees in the garden had been cut down and stolen. When Kamalesh Jha, the manager, came to know that two youths had taken away the timber, he called the duo to his office around 8pm on Wednesday.

The garden has 2,200 workers and is owned by Western Conglomerate Limited which has a registered office in Calcutta.

While Jha was talking to the youths, a group of people, including some non-workers, barged into the office, alleging that the manager had beaten the duo.

"Some of them blew the garden’s siren and more people gathered. A section of them assaulted Jha. When assistant managers came to his rescue, they were also beaten up," said a source.

Jaigaon police arrived but couldn't control the situation. Later, the rapid action force reached and rescued the manager and others around 11.30pm. They were brought to the district hospital here for treatment.

On Thursday, management employees issued a notice in the garden and sent the same to the state labour department, mentioning that if such a situation prevailed, they might think of announcing the suspension of operations.

“A police complaint will be filed against the attackers. Today, a pre-lockout notice was served,” said Chinmoy Dhar, chairman of the north Bengal branch of Tea Association of India.