In the aftermath of the death of Soumyo Sil, the Class IX student, at Bansdroni after being hit by an excavator on Wednesday morning, the Opposition tore into the ruling Trinamool Congress for allegedly backing goons who attacked locals protesting poor road conditions in front of the police.

Local residents protesting in front of Tirthankar Dey, the officer-in-charge of Patuli police station, alleged that they were attacked by individuals close to the local councillor, who attempted to rescue the officer after he was made to step into muddy water to highlight the poor road conditions.

Later, a large police force, led by DC (SSD) Bidisha Kalita, rescued the officer.

“This shows the pathetic condition of the administration. The people were protesting against the bad condition of the roads and it was the duty of the police to stand beside the common people but instead we found that some Trinamool Congress goons attacked the people to rescue the police,” CPM central committee member Sujan Chakraborty said.

The Congress's chief spokesperson for Bengal, Soumya Aich Roy, said: "Our honourable chief minister claims that development is widespread, yet a student died solely because of the terrible condition of the road, which is apparently a sign of this so-called development."

"It was equally shocking to learn that when locals demanded the presence of the councillor, Trinamool goons attacked them, stepping in to assist the police when it should have been the other way around,” he added.

The BJP alleged that this was another classic example of politicisation of the administration.

“There should always be a clear distinction between administration and politics, but under the Trinamool, the entire administration has become politicised. Officials are working on behalf of the party, as we saw the same thing in the RG Kar incident. What happened in Bansdroni is an expression of people's frustration,” said BJP's chief spokesperson for Bengal Samik Bhattacharya.

Trinamool's Arup Chakraborty said: “This is a deeply painful incident, and we all condemn it, but we must also understand that taking the law into our own hands is not the solution. The administration is investigating the matter and the police should not have been manhandled. Just as in the Sagore Dutta hospital incident, where doctors were assaulted, we now see the police being heckled, which is unacceptable.”

The police officer in question is facing a departmental inquiry for making a political comment on his Facebook page. However, the officer had deleted the post.

CPM leader Shatarup Ghosh, who first brought the Facebook post to light, said: “As a police officer he cannot make a political post that makes it obvious that the cop is working on behalf of the ruling party and not for the administration. I am also moving a petition at Calcutta High Court on this issue.”

This correspondent made several attempts to seek Dey's response to the controversies surrounding him but he did not take the calls.