Residents said Tofazzal Hossain, in-charge of the outpost, led a procession at the dead of night that ransacked two Asrams, a temple of Goddess Kali, three houses at Gopalpur when seven to eight people were injured in mass beating.

But the angry people this morning could realise that they were misled when some Hindu community leaders narrated 'the game of the police officer for extorting bribe'.

At about 9:00am several thousand Muslims and Hindus of the area rallied together and attacked the Tamaltala police outpost seeking punishment to Tofazzal. Soon they were engaged in a fistfight with constables that left 15 people injured including a policeman. Finding it difficult to control the angry villagers, police fired several gunshots in the air to disperse them.

Police superintendent Abdullah Al Mahmud said he is aware of the incident and ordered suspension of Tofazzal.

Describing what he termed the police officer's conspiracy, Biwamvar Das Maharaj, caretaker of Nitai-Goura Seba Asram, said he and neighbours Bibendra Nath Saha, 55, Kartik Chandra Saha, 42, and Anil Saha, 50, were picked up from their houses at midnight, taken to the outpost and beaten up mercilessly.

He further alleged that the police officer demanded Tk 50,000 as bribe with a threat of implicating them in false arms case. On refusal, the police officer organised some villagers and incited them to attack the minority community.

Local UP chairman Shariful Islam Masum said it was shrouded in mystery why the Asrams and some houses of the minority community were ransacked and the inmates beaten. He took the injured -- Kallayni Rani, Eiti Rani, Chandan Kumar and Arabind Saha -- to hospital.

Tofazzal dismisses the charges, saying the four were taken into custody from the Asram on suspicion. He pleaded ignorance and said he did not know why the villagers attacked the minority community.