Police patrol Kazigram on Friday. (Surajit Roy)

Malda, June 27: The officer-in-charge of Englishbazar police station, Prasad Pradhan, has lodged an FIR against the Congress’s Krishendu Chowdhury and 44 others alleging that the MLA and his men had tried to murder sub-inspector Sumanta Biswas at Kazigram yesterday.

In his complaint, Pradhan said around 4.25pm he had rushed to Kazigram, 7km from Malda town, after receiving a message that the MLA and his men had been assaulting Biswas mercilessly. When he reached the spot, he found that over 600 Congress supporters and more than 100 CPM members were fighting a battle over the selection of the panchayat pradhan.

According to Pradhan’s version, two police vehicles, including the one he had used to visit the spot, were damaged the moment he reached there. The crowd, led by the MLA, pelted him and his men with stones. But when he found the crowd about to lynch the SI, he had “no other option but to order firing”. Two rounds were fired in the air.

CPM zilla parishad member Nirendranath Chowdhury filed another FIR against Chowdhury and eight others for beating up his supporters.

Chowdhury, on his part, has submitted a written complaint to the Englishbazar police station last night, accusing the SI and the secretary of the CPM’s Englishbazar local committee, Dolon Chaki, of hatching a plot to murder him. Today, he alleged that the police have not “treated his complaint as an FIR”.

The MLA had taken admission to the district hospital last night. This morning, he got himself shifted to a private nursing home. Nearly 100 followers of the MLA today brought out a procession in town, shouting slogans against the police and the CPM. However, some of the prominent members of the Congress, like district president Ruby Noor, were conspicuous by their absence. Noor said she had heard about the clash but was not aware of the details.

District superintendent of police Satyajit Banerjee said eight persons have been arrested. “Raids are on. More people might be arrested, including the MLA.” The arrested people were produced before the subdivisional judicial magistrate and remanded in judicial custody for 14 days.