The police on Tuesday burst teargas shells on agitators protesting against Monday's police action against striking Honda factory workers amid allegations that some of those injured were 'missing' from hospitals in Gurgaon.

The situation boiled over after one Veerwati claimed that her brother, Khushiram, had gone missing from a hospital and attacked a policeman with a stick. The crowd then went berserk and started breaking windshields of police vehicles and throwing stones at the civil hospital.

• Honda workers, cops clash

Policemen soon got into the act and chased away the crowd with batons and by bursting teargas shells. Some of them who had taken shelter in a shop were beaten.

A police jeep was almost set on fire by the crowd, but teargas shells were used and the damage prevented, the police said.

Gurgaon District Collector Sudhir Rajpal was manhandled at the civil hospital before being whisked away to safety.

Communist Party of India-Marxist leaders Nilotpal Basu and Brinda Karat who had reached the hospital alleged that the local administration had lost credibility and were not providing proper treatment to the patients.

"We were told that 550 people had come to this hospital on Monday, but there were only a handful now. The situation is very grim," Basu said.

Karat demanded the dismissal of senior police officials for Monday's lathicharge and for failing to bring the situation under control on Tuesday.