Chakraborty. (Jahangir Badsa)

Tamluk, Feb. 6: A senior East Midnapore police officer was beaten bloody when he tried to stop local youths who were allegedly extorting money on a highway near Haldia, the assailants failing to realise he was a cop because he was in plain clothes.

Niladri Chakraborty, the additional superintendent of police (ASP), Haldia, was left with a broken nose and several bruises on his body.

Chakraborty, 35, was on his way to Tamluk when he got stuck in a jam on the Haldia-Mecheda state highway. The ASP was travelling in his office car and was being accompanied by three uniformed constables.

Chakraborty got off the car alone and saw 10 youths, members of Raghunathpur village’s Golden Club, stopping vehicles on both flanks of the highway and collecting “donations”.

When the officer asked the youths why they were stopping the vehicles, they said they were collecting “chanda” for their club’s “annual cultural programme”.

“Stop this immediately and clear off,” Chakraborty ordered the youths but they abused him instead.

Hearing the commotion, club secretary Syed Mohiuddin, a local Trinamul leader, emerged from the roadside club and asked Chakraborty what had happened. But Chakraborty allegedly hit him with a tree branch.

The youths then dragged Chakraborty into the club and allegedly pummelled him with blows, breaking his nose.

After the constables rushed towards the club to rescue him, the youths “realised their mistake”and stopped assaulting Chakraborty. Some of them helped the constables take the officer to his car.

“We regret having beaten up the policeman,” Mohiuddin said.

District police chief Ajit Sarkar denied that Chakraborty had assaulted anybody.

Molest slur on CISF

Two CISF constables were arrested for allegedly molesting two Visva-Bharati students on the university campus today.

The duo followed the girls into the varsity and passed lewd remarks. When the girls protested, a constable pulled one of them by the hand and allegedly molested her.