Burdwan, April 14: The manager of a Mumbai-based company that collects toll on NH2 in Burdwan East's Palsit has allegedly been beaten up by two Trinamul trade union leaders after he refused to pay a monthly "protection money" of Rs 2 lakh and employ local people at the toll plaza.

The incident took place on Wednesday night and the manager Pritam Chatterjee lodged a complaint against INTTUC leaders Mohammad Abdul Azim and Ashok Hati at Memari police station on the same day. Azim and Ashok are employees of the toll plaza and also the joint secretaries of the INTTUC-backed union there. They were arrested tonight.

Chatterjee said the duo had come to his office at Palsit on April 12 and demanded Rs 2 lakh as monthly "protection money". "They also told me to give jobs to workers of their choice. I rejected the demands and they thrashed me," said Chatterjee.

Azim has denied the charges. "We wanted a job for the next of kin of a worker who died while on duty. We didn't beat the manager," said Azim.