KOLKATA: Dum Dum’s Purba Kamalapur area turned into a mini battlefield on Wednesday with at least 6,000 reality show contestants and their guardians ransacking a studio compound near airport’s gate No.1 off Jessore Road and clashing with cops. Police said four people were seriously injured and hospitalized. Three woman constables were also hurt.

According to unofficial estimates, 6,000-7,000 aspiring contestants had queued up to audition for a popular reality show on a Bengali channel. Most had lined up since 4 am. “There was no arrangement for drinking water or toilets for the thousands waiting under the sun,” some of the contestants alleged. Around 4 pm, they ran out of patience and chaos ensued.

The contestants claimed that at 5.30pm the show authorities announced the audition was over. At the time, over half the contestants were still in queue and soon a jostle broke out. The police were heavily outnumbered and the situation spiralled out of control within minutes.

A senior official of the channel, however, refuted this allegation. “We made no such announcement. It is all a fabrication. A handful created this chaos deliberately. We condemn this behaviour. We will continue with the audition on Thursday,” he said.

As word spread that the audition was closed, the contestants went on the rampage. They flung flower pots to break window panes and attacked parked cars on the campus. Some allegedly entered the studio and ransacked furniture and lights on the floor. With no reinforcement, cops at the spot were helpless. When several people rushed towards the exit to escape the violence, a stampede ensued. Four people were injured, the police said although witnesses claimed the number was much higher. Several children also went missing in the melee. Missing kids back with parents

Among the children who went missing were 11-yearold Guddu Sharma from Madhyamgram and nineyear-old Gargi Biswas from Hind Motor. Late in the night, police said all the children had been united with their parents.

Around 6.40pm, Dum Dum OC Prabir Chatterjee reached the spot with policewomen. Additional DCP Belghoria (under Barrackpore commissionerate) Biswajit Ghosh also led a huge force comprising personnel from Belghoria, Baranagar, Lake Town and Dum Dum police stations to the spot. RAF was also deployed, but they had a tough time controlling the mob which attacked the Dum Dum OC’s car.

Bakul Mitra from Konnagar had gone for the audition with her elderly mother-in-law and had been standing in queue since 4.30am. “Around 10am, there was flood of people. The jostling and chaos had started in the morning. Only a few policemen were posted but nobody could control the situation. Some studio officials present also didn’t take our plight seriously,” she said.

Barrackpore detective department chief Debashish Bej said the situation is under control. “We deployed personnel as soon as the incident was reported. It isn’t correct to say that security was inadequate. Some people instigated the violence,” he said. There have been no arrests so far.