Aug. 16: Three policemen were allegedly beaten up by villagers in South 24-Parganas’ Kultali who accused the law-enforcers of assaulting residents, including women, during a raid last night.

The police said they had gone to arrest a resident accused of assaulting his wife and denied the charge of beating up villagers. The CPM, however, alleged that the police had gone to Kirtankhola village, 60km from Calcutta, to arrest four victorious panchayat candidates following a “false” complaint by Trinamul.

The board of Kundakhali-Godabar panchayat, under which Kirtankhola falls, will be formed tomorrow and the FIR will make it difficult for the four to come for voting. The CPM has bagged nine of the 17 panchayat seats while Trinamul has won seven. If the four CPM candidates fail to vote, Trinamul will form the board.

Officers at Kultali police station said an assistant sub-inspector and two constables were attacked with sticks when they raided the house of the alleged wife-beater. The villagers said they retaliated when the cops beat them up and ransacked their houses.

“The villagers pushed and punched ASI Prasun Roy and snatched his revolver. The two constables were injured in the melee,” said K.P. Barui, the additional superintendent of police of South 24-Parganas.

In his FIR, Trinamul worker Bablu Sardar had accused six villagers, including the four victorious CPM candidates, of shooting and injuring his father.

Sakti Mondal, a Trinamul vice-president in South 24-Parganas, said: “There was no politics behind naming the four CPM gram panchayat members in the FIR.”