The assault of a senior engineer posted in Old Malda block of Malda district on Wednesday evening by a Trinamul leader led to protests on Thursday by BDO office employees with a cease-work.

Accused Trinamul leader Santosh Maiti, also husband of the local panchayat samiti’s sabhapati, however, has denied the charges and instead accused the engineer of corrupt activities.

According to sources, on Wednesday evening some contractors came at the block office premises to protest the process of tenders for the construction of three ICDS buildings.

“They were angry as the jobs were allotted to contractors not from Old Malda. Suddenly, Maiti started roughing up Sushanta Das, a senior engineer of the block looking after the tender process,” said an employee who joined the protest on Thursday.

Das filed a police complaint against Maiti and four others, police sources said.

On Thursday, employees at the block office expressed concern over their security and stopped work to protest.

“If a sincere and senior employee like him (Das) is not safe, how can we be sure that we won't face such attacks during our work,” said an employee.

Maiti called the charges "baseless". “I had simply tried to mediate an altercation between the contractors and the engineer. Some people are conspiring against me,” the Trinamul leader said.

District Trinamul leaders responded cautiously.

“The police should probe and find the truth. It is undesirable that an engineer has been manhandled. No one should take law into his own hands,” said a district Trinamul leader.

BJP jumped into the fray, with Nitai Mondal, the leader of opposition at the panchayat samiti, asking for the arrests of all the accused. “The administration should also ensure security of the employees working in the block,” Mondal said.