Two persons have been arrested in connection with an attack on people who were returning after a peaceful protest in front of the North Dinajpur district magistrate’s office here against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on Wednesday evening.

“After the attack, we conducted raids and arrested two persons. They have admitted their crime and named around 15 others. Searches are on to arrest them. We had recovered two bombs from the spot and they were defused,” said Sumit Kumar, superintendent of police, North Dinajpur.

On Wednesday, around 30 youths, who were carrying crude bombs, firearms and sharp weapons, attacked vehicles carrying the CAA protesters.

Three persons were injured in the attack and are under treatment at the medical college & hospital here.

The arrested duo are Pradip Routh, a resident of Collegepara in the Raiganj town, and Krishna Pal, a resident of Goitor village near here. Goitor is close to Raria where the attack happened on Wednesday evening.

“We have also found that Krishna Pal was accused of storing crude bombs in Raria ahead of recent Assembly by-poll in Kaliaganj,” a police officer said.

Kanaialal Agarwal, the district Trinamul president, said the arrested two were BJP supporters. “We have learnt from our supporters in the area that the arrested two are associated with the BJP. The police should get to the root of the case and find out all details,” said Agarwal.

Rathindra Bose, a convener of the BJP in north Bengal, however, said: “The allegations are baseless. We, too, want all attackers to be behind bars. It would be clear then that our party had no involvement in the incident.”

Senior officers, including Anand Kumar, inspector-general of police (north Bengal), visited the spot on Thursday to take stock of the situation.

In Raiganj, shops and marketplaces were open on Thursday but a number of educational institutions were shut. The police patrolled different parts of the town.