Alleged BJP supporters, police clash, 21 injured including ASP

Darjeeling: A pitched battle between alleged BJP supporters and police left 21 persons injured, including 17 police personnel and civic volunteers, including an Additional SP, in a forested area of Jalpaiguri district. The incident occurred near Dhupjhora under Dhupguri police station when the BJP activists were going to a public meeting of senior party leaders in the neighbouring Cooch Behar district. Nine buses carrying BJP workers were stopped by the police at Jurapani Salbari and the activists got down and started hurling stones towards the cops and even vandalised vehicles on the road. About 17 police personnel and civic volunteers including an Additional Superintendent of Police (Rural), three passengers and a bus conductor were injured in the incident. When police resisted, the supporters even ransacked a roadside police camp office, after which police had to resort to tear gas shelling. Following this, the supporters fled from the spot in the buses. A police jeep, two NBSTC buses, one private bus and three motorbikes were vandalised. The injured police personnel include Dhendup Sherpa, ASP, along with Traffic OC Asim Majumdar and Sub-Inspector S Barman. Sherpa, who received an eye injury, has been admitted to a private hospital in Siliguri. However, the BJP has washed their hands off the incident with Debasish Chakroborty, BJP district president, Jalpaiguri, claiming that the police were the ones who had pelted stones.