Barrackpore: A trader was allegedly assaulted by a group of army men after he protested the parking of a car by the wife of an army officer in front of his shop in Barrackpore on Tuesday evening.

Rajib Dutta, the trader, has been admitted to BN Bose Hospital in Barrackpore with head injuries. He has lodged a complaint against unknown army jawans and the woman with Titagarh police station.

The woman has lodged a complaint, too, accusing Dutta of molesting her.

"We are probing both complaints," an officer of Titagarh police station said.

An officer at the Eastern Command said a doctor and his wife were roughed up by a group of men, including the trader. The woman was shoved aside in the scuffle that started after some army personnel turned up at the spot, he said.

"The matter is being discussed between the local police and the station commander of the Barrackpore Cantonment Board," the officer said.

Dutta mentioned in his complaint that he spotted a car parked in front of his shop on the Barrackpore-Barasat road in Nonachandanpukur when he opened it around 6pm.

"I opened my shop but the car blocked the space in front of it. The woman returned after an hour with a man. I asked her why she parked the car in front of my shop," Dutta wrote in her complaint. "She replied arrogantly saying she did nothing wrong."

While boarding her car, the woman allegedly threw away the signboard of the shop. "The other traders and residents protested. They stood in front of the woman's car and asked her to apologise to Dutta. They threatened her that she would not be allowed to leave. She was allowed to go with her car after she apologised," the police officer said.

Dutta alleged that the woman returned in an army vehicle after two hours.

"Around 20 men in army fatigues, armed with lathis and hockey sticks, jumped off the vehicle and entered my shop. Some of them started beating me up while others were ransacking my shop. Other shopkeepers were assaulted, too, when they tried to save me."