Enayetpur, an otherwise nondescript village located in Manikchak of Malda district and around 35km from the district headquarters, turned into a battlefield on Thursday as a mob attacked a police team that went to the area to clear a road blockade that was raised in protest against prolonged power cuts.

Three police personnel, including the inspector-in-charge of Manikchak police station, were injured in the clash. The attack prompted the police to burst teargas shells and also open fire, with the bullets injuring two local persons.

Senior police officers have rushed to the spot. The police have detained some persons for perpetrating the violence.

On Wednesday, during the Muharram celebrations, there were prolonged power cuts in Enayetpur and neighbouring villages like Nurpur, Sheikhpur and Chandipur.

The power cuts left the villagers aggrieved and a section of them even walked up to the local office of the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) to know the cause of the power cut.

“They were not allowed to enter the office and policemen present there dispersed them. This further infuriated the villagers and they planned to stage road blockades today in protest,” said a source.

Around 9am on Thursday, the villagers raised blockades in at least 10 locations along the Malda-Chanchal state highway in protest against the outage.

As a police team reached the blockade at Enayetpur, a mob encircled the police personnel and started demonstrating.

They ransacked a police vehicle and shoved it into a roadside ditch.

“Our men tried to disperse the mob but the attackers retaliated and attacked them with bricks and stones. The police personnel took refuge in a house along with some others but the attack continued. Tear gas shells were fired,” said Pradeep Kumar Yadav, the superintendent of police of Malda.

According to him, a section of the attackers tried to sprinkle petrol and torch the house where the policemen had taken shelter with some civilians, the policemen fired in self-defence.

“There were minors who had taken shelter with police personnel. To save all of them, the police had to fire in self-defence,” added Yadav.

Yadav, along with senior police officers, rushed to Manikchak. They rescued Parthasarathi Haldar, the inspector-in-charge and two other injured police personnel. They were sent to Malda Medical College & Hospital (MMCH) for treatment.

Also, the duo who were hit by bullets in their legs were shifted to MMCH.

The police then conducted raids and detained 26 persons for their involvement in the incident, said the district police chief.

Akbar Sheikh, one of the injured who was admitted to MMCH, said, “I was going home. Suddenly police started firing teargas shells and bullets from a house. A bullet hit my leg and some locals brought me here.”

Saminur Bibi, a resident of Enayetpur, said: “We are disgusted with the state of power supply. Power cuts for hours together have become a routine. Children, students and elderly people are the worst sufferers. We have knocked on the doors of WBSEDCL time and again, but there hasn’t been any change in the situation.”

Later in the day, Aroop Biswas, state power minister, came up with a statement, mentioning that it is not because of a power cut but the absence of distribution towers is affecting the power supply in the area.

“In Bengal, power cuts are rare these days. Three (distribution) towers have to be installed along the Malda-Manikchak area in the Englishbazar area but those couldn’t be installed due to opposition by some residents. Once these towers are in place, we would be able to provide better power supply to the people within a fortnight,” said Biswas in his statement.

The incident which led to firing, has also prompted the state to seek a report from the police and administration.

Sabitri Mitra, the Trinamool MLA of Manikchak, however, said that frequent and prolonged power cuts were a problem in the area.

“In the entire Manikchak block, the power supply is erratic. I have spoken with WBSEDCL officials but there has been no improvement in the situation,” said Mitra, while adding that the villagers shouldn’t have resorted to the attack.

Sabina Yeasmin, the minister of state for irrigation and north Bengal development, who is also from Malda, termed the firing as “unfortunate.”

“I personally feel it was unfortunate that the police resorted to firing. But we also have to consider under what circumstances they had to make such a move,” she said.

On Friday, the CPM will observe a 12-hour strike in Manikchak in protest against the firing.

Police assaulted

In another incident, two sub-inspectors of police were manhandled by an aggrieved mob that blocked the Chanchal - Samsi highway following a road accident that claimed the life of a youth on Thursday early morning.

Police sources said a truck and a dump truck collided head-on at Samsi.

Sohel Sheikh (26), the truck driver, was seriously injured. A team from Chanchal police station rushed to the spot and informed the fire brigade so that Sheikh could be taken out of the vehicle, the frontal part of which smashed due to the impact of the accident.

By the time Sheikh was rescued, he was dead.

As the news spread, some locals got agitated and blocked the highway, blaming the police for the delay in rescuing the youth.

Some of them even assaulted the police officers who were there on the spot.

Later, additional police forces reached the spot and rescued the sub-inspectors. A case has been registered by the police for the assault.