Midnapore: Eastern Frontier Rifles personnel took away four Counter Insurgency Force men and beat up others at their barracks which were set on fire by villagers at Salua in West Midnapore district capping day-long disturbances. Police arrived at the scene after being held up at Gopali, one km away from the camp, following the disturbances, during which the remaining CIF personnel fled from the spot, police sources said. CIF IG S N Gupta and DIG (Midnapore Range) Vineet Goyel subsequently held talks with the EFR men and set the four CIF personnel free.
A police force, led by SDPO Dipak Sarkar, took over the CIF camp after the fire brigade put out the flames. Earlier in the day, villagers blocked the Keshiary- Kharagpur state highway demanding handing over of a CIF man accused of molesting a girl, said to be the daughter of an EFR jawan, on Tuesday night when she was returning home from tuition.
As the police asked the agitators to disperse and clear the state highway, the villagers indulged in brick batting, leading the police to resort to baton charge. Fourteen policemen were injured in brick batting by the villagers.
Earlier on February 24, 20 CIF men were injured in a clash with EFR. The EFR alleged that a CIF man had misbehaved with women at a fair in the area.
Last night, a meeting had taken place between officers of the two forces to defuse the situation. Salua is the headquarters of EFR, raised in 1907 and also houses the barracks of the anti-Maoist CIF set up last year on the lines of the Greyhounds in Andhra Pradesh.
PTI