Police on vigil at Jadupur. Pictures by Surajit Roy

Malda, Jan. 7: Two suspected criminals were killed when their gangs clashed in Jadupur village, 20km from here, this morning.

The two groups — one led by a former CPM leader and the other by the husband of a Congress pradhan — had been fighting over the control of an extortion racket thriving near the Jadupur bus stand along NH34.

Six persons were arrested, but one of them fled from Kaliachak police station lock-up at noon. Sub-inspectors Manik Debnath and Ashit Mandal have been showcaused by the Malda police chief for dereliction of duties.

Mansur Sheikh, husband of Jadupur gram panchayat pradhan Badrunnisa Bibi, was among the arrested criminals. His name figures in the FIR filed after the murder of Congress leader Saifuddin Sheikh on November 24. Saifuddin, it is said, died because of an infighting within the Congress.

Mansur, who had been absconding since then, appeared in Jadupur yesterday. Since then tension has been brewing in the area, especially after a skirmish between Mansur’s men and the gang led by Bakul Sheikh, known as a CPM party-member, over the control of the extortion racket.

The skirmish became a full-scale battle today with an exchange of bullets, bombs and bricks.

From the morning itself, the two groups had started gathering their forces. Twenty-five-year old Rafiqul Sheikh, Bakul’s brother, had his head virtually blown off when a bomb burst near him. He died on the spot around 7.30am.

In a retaliatory attack carried out by Bakul’s men, Azad Ali, a 30-year-old rickshaw-van driver owing allegiance to Mansur, was shot dead.

The violence forced shopkeepers to down shutters in the bus stand area.

Over 1,000 residents then came down to the streets to protest against “anti-socials running free in the village”. A little after eight they set up a blockade on the national highway.

The arrival of forces from the Kaliachak police station around 9am did not help much. When the Malda superintendent of police, Satyajit Banerjee, visited the spot, he was greeted with anti-police slogans. By 10.30am, however, the police had convinced the crowd to lift the blockade, though the resentment was palpable.

“If the police had rounded up those behind the murder of Saifuddin, incidents like today’s would not have occurred,” said Rehman Ali, a Jadupur resident. He alleged that the police often turned a blind eye to extortion rackets.

Banerjee said a hunt is on for Mantu Sheikh, who had fled from the lockup.

“I have instructed the Kaliachak police to set up a picket in the area and RAF has been deployed too,” Banerjee said.