At least five persons including a woman received bullet injuries after BJP and Trinamul Congress workers were involved in a fierce gun battle at Kaikhali under Hanshkhali police station limits in Nadia last night.

The injured persons – three belong to the BJP while two others belong to the Trinamul Congress – were immediately taken to the Saktinagar district hospital from where one Tapan Biswas, a BJP worker was referred to a Kolkata hospital as his condition was critical.

The clash, sources said, broke out as the Trinamul Congress workers raised protest against the distribution of cycles meant for the students allotted by the state government to unscrupulous persons by a section of BJP workers in the night.

“Whenever we raised a protest, they (BJP workers) started firing indiscriminately at us. My wife, Shila Biswas, a booth president of Trinamul Congress sustained bullet injuries at her abdomen and my son Subhankar Biswas sustained bullet injuries at his leg. They also fired at me but I miraculously was saved,” said Subroto Biswas, a TMC worker.

Trading charges, both BJP and TMC have blamed each other for the violence. The Bharatiya Janata Majdoor Cell (BJMC)’s state vice president Bimal Biswas said, “It was a planned attack on us. As we are doing politics in favour of the BJP, they attacked us with firearms. My brother, Tapan Biswas and his son Debashree Biswas have received bullet injuries and the condition of my brother is critical.

The attack was committed under tacit instruction of the TMC leader Dibakar Kanjilal.” Meanwhile, the incident triggered a sensation among the local residents and a group of Trinamul Congress workers led by the party’s former MLA Samir Poddar rushed to the Saktinagar district hospital where they
started a sit-in in front of the hospital gate, demanding immediate arrest of the BJP worker who was admitted to the hospital following the clash.

The angered TMC workers even sneaked into the operation theatre premises and pushed the stretcher where one of the injured BJP workers was laid. Immediately, a few police persons restrained them from committing any
crime. Later, a large police contingent led by Raktim Chatterjee, IC, Kotwali reached the site and brought the situation under control.