At least two policemen were injured during a clash with the locals at a village in West Bengal's Birbhum district where a raid to recover illegally stacked coal was conducted on Friday afternoon, a senior officer said.
No sooner the police team reached Lokpur village to conduct the raid, villagers blocked the way and started hurling stones at its vehicle, following, which a clash broke out between the two sides, Superintendent of Police Nagendra Tripathi said.
"We had information that illegally procured coal was stacked somewhere in Lokpur village. Some miscreants along with villagers hurled stones at us and tried to stop us. We, however, managed to seize a sizeable amount of pilfered coal from the village. Two of our officers sustained injuries in the melee," the SP explained.
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Tripathi insisted that his team was not carrying any lethal weapon during the operation, but villagers claimed that two residents of the area were injured in police firing.
"There was no firing as we were carrying only non-lethal weapons. We have identified people who had attacked the police. A suo moto case has been filed in this matter," he said. Police sources said around 40 quintals of illegal coal were seized during the raid.
With PTI inputs.
