Tamta with Mujibar Rahaman at MJN Hospital on Monday. Picture by Anirban Choudhury

Deocharai (Cooch Behar), Oct. 20: Two persons were injured when police allegedly opened fire on Trinamul Congress supporters at a village here last night. The police have denied the charge.

The villagers alleged that the police had shouted Vande Mataram and Jai Hind to draw the Trinamul members out of their houses in Bakshirkuthi, 25km from Cooch Behar town.

“We were curious as to who was shouting slogans at 2.30am. Many of us came out of our houses and that is when the police started firing,” said Mafijul Haque, a Trinamul gram panchayat member of Deocharai, who was beaten up by the force. His 63-year-old mother, wife and two children were also not spared.

Mujibar Rahaman (36) and Rafikul Islam (22) have been admitted to MJN Hospital with bullet injuries. Doctors said the bullet was embedded in Mujibar’s head and in case of Rafikul, the injury was on the neck.

K.L. Tamta, the inspector-general of north Bengal, visited the injured at the hospital. He said the police had not fired any shots. Earlier, he met police officials and Trinamul leaders in Tufanganj. “The raid took place, but there was no firing. Only the bullets can tell us about the firearms used. I have asked the superintendent of police to visit the spot tomorrow.”

In protest, more than 1,000 Trinamul supporters blocked NH31 at four places from 9am to 5pm today. The highway connects Cooch Behar district to Assam. Trinamul will observe a 24-hour bandh in Tufanganj — Bakshirkuthi is part of the subdivision — tomorrow. The district administration has imposed Section 144 — gathering of five and more person prohibited — in the subdivision till October 30.

Last night’s raid was a fallout of the police’s failure to arrest three Trinamul members earlier. The three had been accused of violence in a clash with the CPM a few months ago. On Saturday, the women of Kaliganj and Bakshirkuthi, two adjoining villages, had prevented the police from taking the trio into custody.

Yesterday, the police lodged an FIR against the villagers. Around 300 men in khaki first visited Kaliganj and arrested six persons including three women. Then the police force with local CPM leaders in tow entered Bakshirkuthi.

To disperse the mob, the police initially did a lathi charge and then fired, the villagers alleged.

The district chief of Trinamul, Rabindra Nath Ghosh, said last night’s attack was “in Nandigram style” with local CPM leaders helping police. “Tamsher Ali, the CPM MLA, was also present. The CPM lost many seats during panchayat elections and is now out to regain them by spreading terror.” Ali has denied the allegations.