A broken windowpane and (below) the ransacked reception area of the diagnostic centre. Telegraph pictures

Siliguri, Sept. 2: Six persons were arrested today after a group of Congress supporters ransacked a private diagnostic centre on Hill Cart Road here and attacked policemen when they came to restore order.

The group ransacked the reception area of Anandaloke Sono Scan Centre and damaged an ambulance and the car of a radiologist working there. When a police force from the Pradhannagar police station arrived at the spot, they were greeted by stones.

“Two of our men were injured,” said Siliguri additional superintendent of police Rajesh Yadav.

Baton-wielding policemen later chased the mob away. Siliguri town block Congress president Bijoy Sinha and five others — Sujoy Pathak, Chandra Yadav, Kanhaiya Pathak, Ramaulad Roy and Rajiv Pathak — were arrested.

All of them are Congress supporters from the Rajendranagar-Kulipara area of the town where the diagnostic centre is located.

Saha and block Congress vice-president Maksedul Sahani claimed that the managing director of the centre, Sushanta Roy, had misbehaved with them when they went to meet him today.

“We had been receiving complaints against the authorities and employees of the centre that they often misbehaved with patients and hardly bothered to cater to the poor,” Sinha alleged. “That is why we went there today to discuss these issues with the authorities.”

Roy, in turn, said the charges of misbehaviour were baseless. Instead, he accused Sahani of taking commission from “so-called poor patients” for helping them get waivers from the diagnostic centre, which is a unit of Anandaloke Hospital.

“He (Sahani) used to often come to our centre, demanding waivers for so-called poor patients. We have specific information that Sahani took commission from those patients who came with him and were given discounts on tests,” said the managing director of the centre.

“Recently, we blocked his entry and asked poor patients to directly approach us. This left Sahani and some of his supporters angry and that is why they attacked us today,” said Roy.

The managing director added that patients with genuine financial problems are given discounts of up to 40 per cent.

The manager of the diagnostic centre, Jyotirmoy Das, has lodged a complaint with the Pradhannagar police.