Kow (top) and Munna at Alipore court on Wednesday. Picture by Bibhash Lodh

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee smiled down from posters, separating two feuding groups owing allegiance to her party outside the Alipore court on Wednesday.

The court premises were tense as supporters of Trinamul councillor Shambhu Nath Kow and those of slain party leader Adhir Maity arrived with banners and posters in vans and autorickshaws as early as 12.30pm, three hours before the hearing.

Kow has been charged with the March 20 murder of Maity over rehabilitation of vendors on a plot that the councillor was allegedly eyeing.

There was a third but small group of Trinamul supporters as well, belonging to councillor Mohammad Iqbal “Munna” — an accused in the murder of a sub-inspector outside Harimohan Ghosh College in Garden Reach on February 12. His case also came up for hearing on Wednesday.

A makeshift gate outside the court bearing two posters of a smiling Mamata became the dividing line between the Kow and Maity groups as they raised a high-decibel pitch against each other.

Police were out in full force with an assistant commissioner and officers in-charge of three neighbouring police stations maintaining a strict vigil. They wedged a security line between the two groups and made them stand behind barricades on the footpath to avoid obstructing traffic flow.

“They belong to the same party but shouting slogans against each other,” said a police officer playing referee as the muscle match progressed.

In the court, the bail pleas of Munna and Kow got rejected and their custody extended.

Kow, who was arrested from Ballia in Uttar Pradesh on April 5, was produced before the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate. “He was remanded in judicial custody till April 30. An investigating officer can interrogate Kow inside the jail,” public prosecutor Shakti Kumar Bhattacharya said.

The court allowed Kow to sign the salary cheques of teachers of four schools as “he is the chairman of these institutions”. But the cheques have to be signed in the presence of an investigating officer.