Calcutta, June 7: A police team that had gone to search a room rented by suspected women Maoists was forced to turn back today after students and teachers from Jadavpur University stopped the cops from entering without a warrant.

The room, rented by a JU student and an alumnus, was also being used as the office of an organisation called Matangini Mahila Samity.

Although not affiliated to the CPI (Maoists), banned in some states but not in Bengal, the Samity is known for being sympathetic to the rebel outfit and efforts to “protect women from CPM atrocities”.

The team from East Jadavpur police station had knocked on the Friends’ Row house around 10.30am after a tip-off, apparently from some CPM supporters.

“A police team arrived and wanted to search our room. There was a huge gathering of local CPM workers who were encouraging the police. When we asked to see a search warrant, the police couldn’t show it,” Jayeeta, a member of the Forum for Arts Students of Jadavpur University, said.

Samity secretary Debolina Chakraborty, among the five women present when the police knocked, said “some pamphlets of our organisation had been put out to dry, which must have been noticed by CPM supporters”.

As soon as the cops arrived, Puja Basu, who shares the room with Jayeeta, contacted her teachers and fellow students. Soon, some 60 students and teachers arrived.

“A colleague and I were pushed around by hooligans. I know the girls personally. I was dumbfounded to hear the police suspect them to be Maoists,” Bhaskar Gupta, a professor in the electronics and telecommunications department, said.

“Students shouldn’t have been harassed. Technical formalities should have been maintained before enforcing the law,” said varsity registrar Rajat Bandyopadhyay.

Local CPM leader Pappu Chowdhury said his party had “nothing to do” with the raid.

“We were told the girls had hung Maoists posters and pamphlets out to dry,” South 24-Parganas police chief Praveen Kumar said after the three-hour stand-off. “This is why we wanted to carry out a search.”

Inspector general, law and order, Raj Kanojia said the police had got “a warrant this evening from the court” and would carry out the raid.