A minister was caught on camera slapping a man in presence of the police at a polling station in Bengal, where panchayat polls are being held today amid much violence. Cellphone videos of the episode -- recorded at a booth in north Bengal's Coochbehar -- started being circulated in the area soon.

Rabindra Nath Ghosh, who is the minister for North Bengal Development in Mamata Banerjee's government, denied getting violent. "I just drove people away using my hand, that's all," the minister was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

The man, he said, was a BJP agent who was trying to make off with a ballot box and a commotion started when the security officers caught hold of him. Mr Ghosh claimed that was when he tried to shoo off the people.

In the video, the man is seen trying to get away as several people from the mob aim blows at him. A policeman is seen among the mob, but he does nothing to protect the man.