Durgapur, March 9: A mob pinned down six policemen on a road and thrashed them in Burdwan’s Panagarh this morning after a truck ran over a trader in a congested bazaar.

Local people caught stopped the truck but its driver fled. Their anger was vented on a highway patrol team that arrived within minutes.

The police, led by sub-inspector S. Panda urged the mob to lift the blockade on National Highway 2 with Mohd Tajuddin Beg’s body at the centre.

Beg, 37, a trader in old goods, was going to his shop at the bazaar, 160km from Calcutta, on his motorcycle when the empty truck coming from the opposite direction hit him.

“Trucks ply recklessly in this congested area, but no policemen are deployed,” said Sheikh Sultan, a trader.

The police were allegedly prompt today as Union minister and state Congress chief Priya Ranjan Das Munshi was to pass through the area.

Panda ordered a lathicharge, but the mob pushed him to the road and kicked and punched him. Five constables were also beaten up. Their jeep was stoned and overturned. The six ran away.

A large contingent led by circle inspector D. Ghosh chased the mob away at 10.15am. Das Munshi’s convoy breezed through the area at 11.15.

At Hirapur, 80km away, a truck driver was burnt alive by a mob last month after a schoolboy was run over.