WB minister beaten up, held hostage by mob

West Bengal minister Nure Alam Chowdhury was today seriously injured by a mob which took him hostage following a dispute over a piece of land owned by a college in Rampurhat of Birbhum district, police said.
Chowdhury was beaten up by a mob and locked inside a college room at 11.30 AM, Birbhum Superintendent of Police C Sudhakar said, adding he could not be taken to hospital as the mob laid siege to the campus.
"The minister is yet to be taken out of the college. The mob has blocked the road and other entrances. Negotiation is going on with the agitators," he said in the evening.

A medical van which was sent from the Rampurhat hospital for treatment of the minister was also not allowed to enter the college premises, he said.
The dispute arose a couple of years ago when a mosque was allegedly built on the land owned by a trust headed by the minister at Dokhalbati village on the outskirts of Rampurhat where a women's college was situated.
This morning when the minister came to attend a meeting of the college, a large mob gathered outside the building and severely beat up Chowdhury after an announcement was made through microphone that the college authority had started demolishing the mosque.

A strong police reinforcement was rushed to the spot to bring the situation under control.