Undercover cop: A child passing by Ekbalpore police station looks at a constable peering at him from the other side of the locked gate on Wednesday. (Amit Datta)

Lalgarh police station may have been liberated from the Maoists but one in the heart of the city has been under lock and key for three days with armed cops cooped up inside to escape “harassment by political goons”.

The decision to keep the iron gate of Ekbalpore police station shut 24/7 was taken the day after 200-odd Congress supporters laid siege to the building on Sunday protesting a cop crackdown on illegal construction in the area. Supporters of the Forward Bloc and the CPM had raided the police station a week earlier, apparently for the same reason.

With a lock hanging on the gate since Monday, many citizens coming to lodge complaints have turned back thinking the police station has been shut down for good.

Deputy commissioner (port) Asit Pal, however, denied that the police station had stopped functioning. “We have only locked the gate. People coming to lodge complaints are being allowed in through a small gate,” he told Metro.

But how can citizens expect protection if the protectors go undercover?

A senior officer of the police station — comprising 68 constables, 26 homeguards, a sergeant, 23 assistant sub-inspectors, 11 sub-inspectors and two inspectors — described the builders’ lobby behind the recent incidents as “local versions of the Maoists”.

“The mob that assembled here last Sunday demanded that we allow illegal construction in the area. They tried to force their way in and threatened to lock us up,” he said.

The police station, a shout away from CMRI Hospital, has since worn a deserted look with an armed constable and two homeguards peering at passers-by from behind the gate and the rest out of view.

According to residents, no foot patrolling has been conducted over the past three days. An officer posted at Ekbalpore police station for a year said he felt like a “prisoner” but had no choice but to “follow orders”.

Gora Chand Mondal, the director-general of buildings in the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, admitted that Ekbalpore was the hub of illegal construction. “Builders and land-owners seldom seek the CMC’s permission before starting work. Most of the buildings in the area are illegal.”

Local Forward Bloc leader Rehan Khan, one of those who had led the mob that gheraoed Ekbalpore police station on November 1, blamed the cops for the spurt in illegal construction. “The police and corporation officials allowed illegal constructions in the first place. They earned their share of bribes by doing that and are now out to render people homeless,” he alleged.

Police commissioner Gautam Mohan Chakrabarti had transferred the former officer-in-charge of the police station and his deputy two months ago on the basis of complaints that they were allowing illegal constructions in the area.