Islampur, Aug. 8: The manager of a tea estate and his deputy were allegedly abducted by villagers and beaten up last evening. They were let off only after they signed a declaration that they would not enter Rahugaj village or send garden workers there to threaten them.

Police said Nitish Biswas, the manager of Maitri Tea Garden, and assistant manager Amarendra Sinha are now recuperating in a nursing home in Siliguri, 75km from here.

Sources said for the past two years, the garden management and residents of Rahugaj, the adjacent village, were at loggerheads with each other over a plot of land. A court in Islampur is hearing the dispute and the subdivisional administration has imposed Section 144 on the disputed plot of one acre.

Garden sources claimed that the land rightfully belonged to them and that villagers frequently pluck tealeaves from bushes growing on the plot and sell them outside. The sources said last evening, some of the villagers came to meet the manager and left after he did not show up. Later, they returned with bows and arrows and there was tension in the area.

When the garden workers resisted, a clash ensued in which six of them were injured. Two villagers were also hurt. The villagers then allegedly forced Biswas and Sinha to come with them and only let them go after they signed the declaration.

Garden lawyer Gurudas Saha said a detailed report had been filed with the Chopra police station.

On the other hand, the villagers have complained to the police that yesterday two of them, both garden workers, were harassed when they went to collect their wages.

“The garden management is purposefully bringing trumped up charges against us. It was the manager who led a huge group of workers and came to the village to threaten us. It was then that we confined him and sent word to the police. They came and took them away,” said Motihas Hansda, a villager.

The subdivisional police officer of Islampur, David Lepcha, said an inquiry was being conducted although no one had been arrested yet.