Violence erupted for the second time today since the first outburst on January 3 when people protesting against land acquisition for a proposed SEZ in Bhawanipore near Nandigram murdered a policeman of the district intelligence bureau around noon today.

The incident comes as a shock as well as a setback to the state government that has been trying to restore normalcy in the region after the early January flare-up in which four people were killed in clashes among villagers. Nandigram, itself, continues to be cut off with its access roads dug up by villagers in a bid to prevent the administration’s entry.

Today, violence spread to its adjoining area of Ishwardaha-Jalbai under the Bhawanipore police station that is right across Nandigram by the Haldi river. Villagers in this area, traditionally a CPM bastion, had snapped road links when a police party arrived there.

A police party of eight, including the District Intelligence Bureau’s Sadhu Chatterjee, went to the area to inquire about the tension building up. Within half an hour, they were surrounded by a large mob, which assaulted them with sticks and iron rods. One uniformed policeman managed to escape but six others were seriously assaulted.

The body of the slain policeman was missing and was suspected to have been thrown into the river. Eyewitness accounts said that local residents had seen the body being dumped into the Haldi river, a tributary of the Hooghly. The administration was considering asking Coast Guard teams to trace the body. A dozen people were arrested in connection with the violence.

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