Party flags and posters on the floor in the ransacked office. (Rana Ghosh)

Feb. 19: CPM supporters beat up their leaders in Burdwan’s Kanksa last night accusing them of corruption, hours after young cadres in Durgapur used the slap-and-punch pill on their seniors for going back on their promise of jobs.

Some 500 men and women raided the local committee office about 160km from Calcutta while the leaders were watching a film around 9pm.

As committee secretary Debatosh Banerjee wondered what was happening, the villagers took him by his collar and dragged him out.

The leaders were accused of paying less than the villagers’ due under the rural employment guarantee scheme. The law ensures labourers’ job to the poor for 100 days a year.

“They are getting rich stealing our money. Beat them,” said Sadhu Ruidas, who was at the forefront of the mob.

Banerjee was pushed to the ground and kicked till he became unconscious. He was also hit with sandals and broomsticks. Six others who tried to flee leaving Banerjee behind were caught and thrashed.

Banerjee was admitted to Durgapur Subdivisional Hospital, where an X-ray revealed hairline cracks in his ribs.

The mob smashed the television set. The rampage continued for about an hour until a police team arrived with CPM district committee member Aloke Bhattacharjee and other leaders.

Bidhan Ruidas told Bhattacharjee: “Panchayat supervisors supposed to record how much earth we have dug in a day are preparing false reports. We aren’t getting our due as the leaders are taking cuts.”

Kanksa BDO Santanu Basu said the villagers are supposed to get Rs 75 for cutting 99 cubic feet of earth in a day. “I’ll seek a report from the panchayat,” he added.

Bhattacharjee promised a probe to the mob. But district party secretary Amal Halder said: “These are stray incidents. The poor are with us.”

Yesterday, party workers beat up two local committee members and locked them up at Namo Sagarbhanga, in the same district. They had been promised jobs at local steel plants and sponge iron units.