A 22-year-old youth died and over a dozen others were critically injured in indiscriminate firing by members of two warring caste groups, Jatavs and Gujjars, over a disputed property in Kanawni village under the Noida Sector 58 police station on Monday. Sources said at least 150 rounds of bullets were fired by both sides in around two hours of violence.
Irate members of Jatav and Gujjar communities also set on fire a dozen houses. Incidentally, the violence took place despite the claim of local authorities to have seized all firearms in the area as the Model Code of Conduct is in force. According to police, there is a dispute between Satbir Kasana, a Gujjar, and Chaman Singh Bhagat, a Jatav, over a disputed land measuring 200 square metre.
The deceased, Rahul Kasana (20), is a grand son of Deshraj Kasana, pradhan of Kanawani village. Both Deshraj Kasana, a Gujjar, and Chaman Singh Bhagat, a Jatav, stake claim over the disputed land. Both parties have fought over the property earlier also and the matter is pending in court. As Deshraj created some structure on the disputed land claiming that he had bought the land from a villager, infuriated Jatavs objected violently.
Around 9 am on Monday, Chaman with his community members reached to capture the disputed land. At the same time, scores of Gujjars too rushed to stake claim over the land. Soon verbal altercation turned into stone-pelting and firing from both sides. Rahul Kasana suffered bullets in his neck and died on the spot, while Deshraj and his son Satbir, Jitendra Kasana, Amit Kasana, Chaman, Manuraj and several others sustained bullet injuries.
“Today, after heated argument, two groups clashed over possession of land. They pelted stones and fired shots at each other, during which a bullet fired from the dalit group side hit Satbir’s son Rahul Kasana (20), who died on the spot,” SP City Yogish Singh said.
Fear gripped the villagers so much that none came forward to rescue the victims who were lying in the pool of blood for hours. The injured were taken to hospital in Noida and Ghaziabad only when police reached the village. After the Gujjar-Jatav clash, senior police officers reached the spot, and deployed additional force and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) force to prevent spread of violence. Measuring the seriousness of the incident, personnel of 10 police stations of Gautam Budha Nagar and Ghaziabad, along with 300 PAC personnel, were deployed in and around the village.
Six fire tenders were rushed to the village. The situation was brought under control but tension prevailed throughout the day in the area. In the evening, village Gujjars tried to gather around the body of Rahul when it reached the village for cremation after post-mortem. However, the alert police dispersed the crowd.
Preetinder Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Noida, said: “We are making all efforts to normalise the situation. We have registered FIR against a dozen persons from both sides at Sector 58 police station.” “Deshraj, Jitender, Amit, Chaman and dozen other persons have been detained for interrogation,” a source said. The SDM, the ADM and other officers were camping at the village and monitoring the situation and issuing directions to check law and order and arrest the killers.