Villagers 145;lock up146; OC in Burdwan

As per a complaint by village resident Deepak Mukherjee, Pal and his police team broke forcibly entered his house well past midnight and assaulted his mother who was sleeping in the front room. When his wife Shikha tried to intervene and stop them from entering, she was allegedly beaten up and tore her clothes.

On Sunday morning, villagers blocked the Durgapur-Shibpur road, which is the only link connecting Durgapur to Birbhum. When Pal and a team from Kanksa police station reached the spot, they were gheraoed by the protesting mob and locked up in the local CPM office. The villagers demanded an unconditional apology from Pal. The cops then called for more forces from neighbouring police stations, sources said. With Pal refusing to tender an apology, the villagers refused to let them go.

Finally, around 2 pm, Pal apologised to the villagers in front of TV crew, following which he and other policemen were released from the office.