A CPI supporter’s house that was allegedly set on fire by Trinamul Congress supporters on Tuesday night. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Nandigram, May 7: The man whose wife was allegedly stripped and beaten up by CPM supporters on Monday slept under a tree outside the Nandigram block hospital last night because he was scared to return home.

Debashish Jana’s eight- year-old son Sanjoy, however, managed a vacant bed in the hospital.

The father and son were dragged out of their house in Keyakhali village on Monday morning and forced to join a CPM procession.

Sanjoy, who had managed to break free of the procession and run, was chased and caught by suspected CPM supporters who hit him till he fell unconscious. Some villagers who recognised the boy took him to his aunt’s house.

Debashish, 35, had fled to Brindabanchowk and hid under a heap of cow-dung cakes less than 100 metres from the place where his wife was being beaten up.

Since Monday, he has been wearing the same brown shirt and black trousers.

“I have no money nor any spare clothes. Last evening, I took my son to the relief camp at the block office campus and had rice and a curry of gourd. I thought the administration would make some arrangement for people like us to return home. But there was no such arrangement. I don’t have the courage to return home alone,” said Debashish.

He sent Sanjoy back to his aunt in Satengabari today.

In her hospital bed, Debashish’s wife said she was also eager to go home. “But we want a guarantee from the administration that we will not be attacked again,” she said.

CID special inspector-general Sanjoy Mukherjee visited the woman in the hospital last night and recorded her statement. “I have already submitted my report,” he said.

Violence was reported from various parts of Nandigram today.

Over the past three days, 1,000 villagers from Keyakhali, Rainagar, Simulkundu, Maheshpur, Gokulnagar, Sonachura, Garchakraberia and Kalicharanpur — in Nandigram block I — have fled their homes and taken shelter on the block office premises.

About 300 women are sleeping in a hall used for conferences.

Mahadeb Mondal, 40, of Keyakhali has been at the makeshift camp with wife Minati, 35, and two daughters and two sons since Monday.

He fled his house when armed CPM supporters were dragging villagers to their procession. “We are being provided two meals, but have been pushed into uncertainty. We don’t know when we will return home,” said Mahadeb, a farmer.

At Amgechhia village, also in block I, alleged Trinamul Congress activists set the two storey house of CPI supporter Samrul Khan on fire.

Samrul, who was with the Congress until last year, had recently shifted loyalties.

“I was sleeping with my wife, three children and old mother last night when we were woken up by the loud crackling noise and heat. The fire was spreading fast. We ran out, but most of the house was gutted,” said Samrul.

At Kendamari, SUCI activist Shankar Dey, 35, was beaten up this morning. “He has been admitted to the Tamluk district hospital,” said his wife Latarani.

Chief secretary A.K. Deb said subdivisional police officer Gaurav Sharma will monitor the panchayat elections in Nandigram. The homeless, he promised, will be able to cast their votes.