Police on Thursday arrested 22 persons in connection with the armed clash between two rival factions of Trinamul Congress that left two persons, including an elderly woman, dead and six critically injured at Haroa in North 24-Parganas on Wednesday.

Police began a murder case against 31 persons on the basis of two separate complaints lodged by the victims’ family members with Haroa police. Prime accused and Trinamul’s local area committee president Jaggeshwar Pramanik is absconding.

Those arrested were produced before the additional chief judicial magistrate’s court in Basirhat and sent to 10 days of police custody.

The incident has come as a major embarrassment to Trinamul as it happened on Martyrs' Day and goes against chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s call to Trinamul workers to work together in public interest. Party insiders claimed the incident was a fallout of a feud between warring factions led by Trinamul youth wing leader Tapan Roy and Pramanik over the control of Mohonpur gram panchayat.

“We can't accept such barbaric acts. The party does not support this. We have categorically told the police to nab the culprits,” said district chief of Trinamul’s North 24-Parganas unit Jyotipriya Mullick.

Basirhat police district SP Joby Thomas K. said: “Most of the accused have been arrested. We are in search of the rest. A big police team with combat force personnel has been deployed in the area.”

Trinamul supporter Laxmi Bala, 75, was killed when she fell down while trying to flee from the spot and got trampled upon. Sanjib Jana, 35, died on the spot when a bullet hit him. Among the six critically injured persons, three had suffered bullet injuries and are still fighting for their lives at RG Kar Medical College Hospital in Calcutta.