A former vice-chairman of Trinamul-run Domkol municipality and his son were beaten up by 25-odd people armed with iron rods and firearms, who also ransacked a bar owned by the ruling party leader in Murshidabad’s Domkol on Sunday afternoon.

Trinamul leader Pradip Chaki and his son Shiladitya were primarily admitted to a local hospital and later shifted to the Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital with multiple injuries.

“We have started an investigation to find the accused persons,” said Asim Khan, the additional superintendent of police in Lalbagh.

Chaki accused his party MLA and Domkol civic chairman Jafikul Islam of being responsible for the attack, as he held a news conference against the latter’s alleged corruption.

“It was the handiwork of our MLA and chairman Jafikul Islam, whom I accused of corruption on November 19. His people came with iron rods and firearms in a bid to kill me. They beat me up and my son, black and blue,” Chaki said from a hospital bed.

Around 90 residents of Domkol municipality had on Friday lodged complaints with local administration and police against Chaki for taking money in the assurance of sanctioning dwelling units under government schemes. Those who lodged complaint had also blocked a local road in Domkol.

MLA Islam denied the allegation and claimed that the attack was the result of some dispute between some drunken youths and the bar-owner.

“There is no political connection at all. It was the result of a fight between the owner and customers of the bar,” he said.

Trinamul sources said the incident was the result of a factional feud and it put the ruling establishment in a zone of discomfort, after a Nadia Trinamul leader, Motiur Islam, was killed on November 24 in Murshidabad’s Naoda over alleged infighting. The victim’s wife lodged a police complaint, accusing Nadia zilla parishad member Tina Saha Bhowmick and Murshidabad’s Naoda block chief Safiur Zaman Seikh of being directly involved in the murder, along with eight others.

Trinamul leaders tried to play down the alleged infighting.

“There is no political play behind the incident. What happened with the former vice-chairman is the result of personal rivalry,” said Trinamul’s Murshidabad president Shaoni Singha Roy