Barely 48 hours ago, the Kalagachia CPI(M) office in Khejuri, near Nandigram, stood like a symbol of power and authority — buzzing with people through the day.

On Wednesday morning, the two-storey building with 11 rooms and a meeting hall stood like a ghost house, telling the story of public fury against the CPI(M) leaders and cadres in the area.

Angry villagers had raided the building and ransacked the office, damaging property and burning documents. The floor was strewn with half-burnt party documents, including membership renewal forms, and a picture of Che. The remnants of a burnt red flag told the story of a fallen left citadel of the Marxists in Khejuri.

The raid on the CPI(M) office is the latest in a series of similar operations over the past two days when the villagers, backed by the Trinamool Congress, went on a search operation, ostensibly to unearth stockpiling of illegal arms by the CPI(M) cadres. The police were in tow even as the villagers identified the premises to be searched.

Local Trinamool supporters on Wednesday took the police to a locked and abandoned public toilet near the CPI(M) officer from where two guns were recovered. They then led the police party to an under-construction auditorium, from where three drums packed with hand bombs were recovered. CPI(M) banners and posters were also found from the place.

In the past two days, 15 guns, 250 hand bombs and 1,320 cartridges have been found in raids at five places. Police, however, declined to say much over the operation. Officer in-charge of Khejuri police station only said eight people had been arrested. “There was no report of any clash,” he said.

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