Malda, March 9: A search for people involved in a case of double lynching in the village of Sadipur was cut short by residents who blocked the Panchanandapur state highway for nine hours from 7am today in protest against alleged police atrocities.

On February 25, the villagers of Sadipur caught hold of two persons — Sambhu Sarkar (42) and Sukesh Sarkar (35) — suspected to be thieves and beat them to death.

Since the village is located in between the Englishbazar and Kaliachak police stations, a joint team raided Sadipur last night. The villagers alleged that in the name of arresting those involved in the lynching, the police team unleashed terror on innocent villagers and even beat up women.

“The manner in which the police behaved last night is despicable; the women had not committed any crime,” said the CPM gram panchayat member of the area, Dinesh Mondal.

Women like Sulekha Bibi and Najema Bibi also complained about the manner in which the police conducted the raid.

“The policemen barged into our houses while we were sleeping and ransacked our belongings. They even broke down the doors of many houses,” one woman alleged.

The police, however, did not have to do anything to clear the roadblock. The men and women of Sadipur gave way after people from surrounding villages started getting agitated at the prolonged closure of the crucial road.

“We were waiting for the Madhaymik examinations to get over. We do not want the people to take law in their own hands and kill people they suspect of being thieves. We have started a case against 40 men for the lynching of the duo and have so far managed to arrest three of them,” said Malda police superintendent Satyajit Bandyopadhyay.

He added that the women of Sadipur had set up a blockade last night to prevent the police from entering the village. “The charges against the police are baseless.”