Krishnagar, March 27: Dacoits looted several houses in two Nadia villages last night and fled across the border braving policemen and Border Security Force personnel who shot at them in vain.

The gang, with a strength of not more than 15, rained bombs on the security forces and fired at them during two separate encounters in which two policemen and a BSF jawan were injured.

Two residents of Krishnagunj ? 130 km from Calcutta ? whose houses were looted, were admitted to the district hospital with splinter injuries. A woman, who was beaten up, was also hospitalised.

The BSF’s Krishnagar sector commandant, Naimuddin Khan, said the gang fled to Bangladesh. “The bombs slowed down the chase. We have sought the help of Bangladesh Rifles to nab the culprits.”

According to the police, the gang first raided the house of Badal Adhikary, a betel leaf farmer at Tungi village, but only found Rs 3,000 and a small amount of jewellery.

Abusing him for keeping such a small sum at home, the dacoits moved on to neighbouring Burnpur.

Both villages, the police said, house affluent farmers.

Badal, who was told not to alert anyone, called the police.

A team of five policemen went to Burnpur where the dacoits were raiding the houses of Nemai Majumder and his brother Netai. Seeing the police jeep, they started hurling bombs and an encounter ensued around 11.30 pm.

A police officer said they were carrying double-barrel guns, besides bombs and daggers. The bombs were “so powerful” that the small force had to retreat.

After the policemen fled, the dacoits started looting again. Nemai’s wife was assaulted as she refused to hand over her jewellery. “The dacoits beat her and snatched everything. They took away Rs 35,000 from me. My wife bled profusely from the neck and fell on the ground,” said Nemai who, with brother Netai, were injured by the splinters of a bomb burst in their courtyard.

After looting two more houses, the gang headed to the border at Bijoypur.

By the time the police reinforcement arrived, the dacoits had fled. As they ran towards the border, three BSF jawans challenged them.

But Nadia police chief R. Rajsekharan said, they “vanished into the darkness”.

In Calcutta, top officials, including GOC, Bengal, Arun Roye, and officers from customs and the narcotics bureau met chief secretary A.K. Deb and home secretary P.R. Ray this afternoon to discuss strengthening and management of the Bangladesh border.