Police on Thursday started an attempt to murder case against a club secretary and five others in connection with the assault on Bishnupada Halder in Sonarpur.

Officers at Sonarpur police station had apparently told Halder to "settle the matter amicably with the club members" when he went to file a complaint late on Tuesday. Halder had returned home to Rabindranagar, 18km from the heart of Calcutta, after filing a general diary.

"Based on Halder's complaint, we have drawn up a case with several charges, including attempt to murder, criminal intimidation, theft and house-trespass against Sukdeb Purkait, secretary of the Agneebina Sangha, and five others. Charges have been drawn up under the arms act as well," an officer of Sonarpur police station said.

Halder had said in his complaint that club members thrashed him on Tuesday when he tried to demarcate the boundary of his land from a temple that had already encroached on the plot.

Halder, who owns a cycle spares shop, said he had bought the plot in 2000. "When we decided to build our house there in 2012, we noticed a small temple had come up on the plot. The club members told us that we would have to pay if we wanted the temple to be shifted to another site."

The members attacked Halder and his family on seeing them use a plastic net to demarcate their land, he said in his complaint.

Trinamul councillor Bivash Mukherjee had said on Wednesday the incident was an attempt to malign the ruling party through "new switchovers" from the Left.

"I am not sure if anything will really happen. All the six, including Purkait, have political backing," Halder said. "Some of them had been named by a dentist in 2014 when he and his wife were thrashed for refusing to give in to their extortion demands."

Another officer said Raghunath Naskar had lodged a complaint against Halder and his family. "But we found merit in Halder's complaint. A case was drawn up accordingly."

Calls to councillor Mukherjee's phone went answered on Thursday.