Police have "tried and failed" to trace those who had dropped minister Firhad Hakim's name to forcefully reinstate the evicted tenants of a Chetla property, maintaining the post-poll trend of going easy on any offender with a suspected Trinamul link.

Investigators claimed on Thursday that brothers Sekhar and Rupak Sarkar, who were evicted from 67A Peary Mohan Roy Road on Tuesday on the basis of a court order, had not been seen since thugs identifying themselves as Hakim's aides assaulted the owners and wrested possession of the property.

The incident had occurred within hours of the Sarkar brothers being evicted in the presence of a bailiff and six police personnel. "The womenfolk are in the house...but the men are absconding," said an officer at Chetla police station, where the Chandra family that owns the property filed an FIR. "The duo otherwise do not have a criminal record," the officer said.

The Chandras had filed a petition seeking repossession because their tenants allegedly hadn't paid rent since 1986. The petition also stated that they needed the property for their own use.

On Tuesday, a gang of toughs turned up saying that they were reinstating the evicted tenants "on minister Firhad Hakim's orders". The men allegedly assaulted co-owners Swarnakamal, 37, Rajkumar, 25, and Sonali De, 42, while breaking into the house.

The complaint identified the assaulters as Ratan Dutta, Asim Dutta, Avijit Dutta and Bappa Mukherjee. The first two are known in the neighbourhood as Trinamul supporters close to Hakim, the urban development and municipal affairs minister.

An aide of Hakim said tenants Sekhar and Rupak were members of the local 24 Palli Club. "Rupak used to work for a Reckitt and Colman factory that was shut down around a decade ago. Both brothers now do whatever work they get."

Avijit lives in the nearby No. 9 Bustee and Bappa is a railway employee. Asim works for Calcutta Port Trust and also runs a shop.

Sources in the police attributed the paralysis in the force to uncertainty over what would happen after May 19, when the poll results would be declared. The reluctance to arrest even known offenders suggests that the police are reluctant to be politically neutral even when they are supposed to be reporting to the Election Commission rather than a government in transition.

In almost all incidents of post-poll violence in the city, the accused are Trinamul supporters and the police have been loath to act against them. "The force is under tremendous pressure... They are confused," an officer said.

The police have cited "legal limitations to interference in a civil suit" for their failure to re-evict the two families that are back in the Chandras' property.

"We cannot force anyone out of a property without a court order. We executed the first order. But they dishonoured the court and recaptured the place. Ideally, the complainants should move court against the trespassers," said a senior officer in the city police headquarters.

Asked what was stopping the police from prosecuting those charged with trespassing, outrage of modesty, rioting and criminal intimidation during the incident on Tuesday evening, he said: "They will be arrested today or tomorrow."

The police on Thursday moved court seeking a date to record the statement of a member of the Chandra household who has alleged "outrage of modesty".