Six policemen were injured after villagers in Madhya Pradesh's Rajgarh district allegedly assaulted them on the intervening night of Sunday and Monday, an official said.
Those involved in the assault, all residents of Baman, some 30 kilometres from the district headquarters, however, claimed that two of the policemen had molested a woman, he said.
Inspector Virendra Dhakad said the fracas started when a Chappiheda police station team was trailing a vehicle suspected to be smuggling liquor.
"The liquor-carrying vehicle knocked down and injured a policeman. When the team following the vehicle entered Baman village, people there encircled the policemen, threw chilly in their eyes and tore off their uniforms. They then severely assaulted the police team," he said.
"Six policemen were injured while others fled from the spot to save their lives. Villagers held two police personnel hostage and forcibly made them consume liquor," Dhakad said.
But villagers had a different version, claiming that police entered the house of an accused in the village and took the latter's sister, who was alone inside, along with them.
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"They took the woman in their vehicle on the pretext of taking her to the police station. But the policemen stopped at a deserted place in Sonkheda. Two of them molested her," said a villager.
Dhakad said 15 people have been booked for assaulting the police party, adding that a cop too has been charged under section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with an intent to outrage her modesty) of the IPC.