At least eight tribal people, including a woman, were killed in Pakur district under Hiranpur police station on Friday in a land related dispute which took an ugly turn after the two groups came against each other with their traditional weapons. According to police, five of the victims belonged to the one group while the other three were of the opposite group. At least nine people have also been injured in the incident out of which the condition of two is said to be critical.
"Dispute between the two groups living in Hathigarh and Talatoala intensified to such an extent that they took out their 'Harve Hathiyar' (traditional arms) and started hitting each other killing eight people on the spot," said Pakur SP Ajay linda. No arrests have been made so far in this case, he said.
People of both sides, however, ran away from the spot leaving the bodies on the road where the incident took place, which was later remove by the police.
The deceased have been identified as Karu Kisku, Charan Murmu, Haridas Hansda, Barsan Marandi, Sufal Marandi, Shibu Marandi, Thakur Marandi and a woman claimed to be the wife of Shibu Marandi.
Sources, however, revealed that there was a dispute over a piece of land between the people of Tala Toli and Hathgarha in which a case had also been registered at the local police station in March following which Section 144 was imposed on the controversial piece of land by the local administration.
"Today, the two groups came against each other on the issue of plantation of paddy seedlings which turned ugly after a crowed of over 100 people came out of their homes with traditional weapons like sickle, axe and bamboo sticks in their hands and attacked on each other," said a villager over phone requesting anonymity. Had the police shown some seriousness, the incident would have been averted, he added.
Former Minister Simon Marandi rushed to the spot following the incident while SDPO Kaushal Kishore has initiated investigations. Police have been camping in the area to avert any further incident as the situation is still tense in the area.