A Trinamool Congress leader based on the outskirts of Cooch Behar town and some others have been accused of vandalising a private nursing home and looting cash on Thursday night.
The nursing home authorities filed a complaint at the Pundibari police station on Friday.
Sankar Sinha, the director of Cooch Behar Mission Hospital Private Limited which is in Chakchakaarea on the outskirts of Cooch Behar, said in his complaint that around 10.30pm on Thursday, a group of 25-odd people led by Raju Dey, a TMC leader, had barged into the nursing home.
“They were carrying deadly weapons and vandalised our office, damaged important medical documents and furniture, and forcibly took away ₹1,73,320 from the medicine cash section,” Sinha mentioned in his complaint.
He also claimed that when private security guards had tried to stop them, Dey and others had attacked them. Dhananjoy Roy, one of the guards, has sustained serious injuries and is under treatment at the same nursing home, the director said.
In his complaint, Sinha has named Dey, who is a member of the Trinamool-run Cooch Behar 1 panchayat samiti, and three others.
The TMC leader denied the charge. According to him, Chakchaka's patient was being treated at the nursing home and was supposed to be discharged on Thursday morning.
“However, the nursing home authorities prepared a bill of ₹1.61 lakh for the treatment and were not ready to release the patient. The family somehow arranged the money, and around 8pm, the patient was discharged,” said Dey.
“As we learned about it, we went to the nursing home and raised the issue. It was unacceptable to detain the patient in such a manner. No one has ransacked anything or taken away cash,” he added.
The nursing home authorities, however, maintained that they possessed CCTV footage to prove their point.
District TMC leaders, when contacted, were brief in their reactions.” Let the police find out the truth,” one of them said.