Patra was, however, forcibly rescued by the nearly 200 Trinamool supporters who had gheraoed the police station, said a police officer.

Patra had been arrested from Kuijali village near Amtali gram panchayat in Gosaba block of Sunderbans on Monday for his alleged involvement in several cases of murder, attempt to murder and illegal businesses.

Fourteen persons, all Trinamool supporters, were later arrested for their involvement in the incident and were produced before the Alipore court on Wednesday afternoon. They have been remanded to judicial custody till February 10.

CPM state secretary Biman Bose, meanwhile, lambasted the Trinamool Congress over the incident saying: “Such incidents send a wrong message in a democracy. Political parties should be more tolerant.”

The Trinamool, however, retorted saying the CPM-led state government is trying to “malign” them.

“Local villagers had grievances against the police and their highhandedness. Therefore, some of them went to the police station. Our party has nothing to do with it and we are being deliberately maligned. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee planned the episode,” said Partho Chatterjee, Trinamool Congress’s Leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly.

Police version
The Trinamool supporters gheraoed the police station and beat up Constable Ajit Mondal and Officer-in-Charge Kaushik Kundu after the officers refused to release Patra, said a police officer. Kundu and Assistant Sub-Inspector Shymal Mondal were seriously injured and admitted to a local primary hospital. Trinamool activists then raised slogans in the name of party supremo Mamata Banerjee and Jayanta Laskar, a local leader and pradhan of Amtali gram panchayat.

The operation was pre-planned as the Trinamool supporters assembled near the police station on the pretext of celebrating Republic Day and as soon as the function ended, the supporters, led by one Laskar, began the assault.