Narsinghpur: At least two persons were killed and over 15 people injured after residents of Sagar and Panchagochhia villages under this police limits in Cuttack district clashed with each other. The angry mob torched houses over a longstanding dispute on drawing water from Chamundapalli irrigation project Sunday morning.
The deceased persons were identified as Sridhar Samal (40) of Sagar village and Harihar Behera (60) of Panchagochhia village.
Some of the injured persons were identified as Sadanand Pradhan, Maheswar Nayak, Anjan Nayak, Taina Nayak, Chakehndi Dalai, Sulochana Dalai, Niladri Nayak, Lokanath Pradhan, Droupadi Nayak, Antaryami Sahu, and Bharat Nayak of Panchagochhia village and Pratima Sahu, Pankaj Jena, Kailash Jena, Braja Kishore Barik and Shantilata Pardhan of Sagar village.
Tension was palpable in the area as senior police officials including Cuttack Rural SP Radhagobind Panigrahi rushed to the spot and took stock of the situation.
Two platoons of police force were deployed at the spot to avoid any further deterioration of law and order situation, Athagarh sub-divisional police officer (SDPO) Alok Ranjan Ray said.
In the absence of the tehsildar, the additional tehsildar Akash Ranjan Sahu also reached the spot and tried to restore peace among the villagers.
The residents of the two villages however held the tehsildar responsible for the incident. Two complaints were lodged in the police station while police registered a case by the Sagar villagers and launched a probe.
As per reports, a fight erupted between the residents of two villages –Sagar and Panchagochhia— over breach of an embankment of Chamundapalli irrigation project.
The incident occurred when some villagers of Sagar tried to repair the breach on the embankment of Chamundapalli irrigation project.
Things got ugly and a clash broke out between them after the villagers of Panchagochhia resisted their attempts and attacked them with bows and arrows. A person Sridhar Samal of Sagar village died after an arrow struck him. Profusely bleeding, he died on the spot, sources said.
After reports of Sridhar’s death surfaced hundreds of Sagar villagers armed with sharp-edged weapons reached Chamundapalli and launched an attack on the Panchagochhia villagers.
Over 15 persons, including two of them critical, from both the sides were admitted to the Narsinghpur hospital while the critically injured ones to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack.
Narsinghpur police seized the body of the deceased persons and send them for post-mortem to the Badamba hospital, Narsinghpur police IIC Lingaraj Lenka said.
Notably, the Narsinghpur tehsildar Raj Kishore Jena had directed to dug up the embankment and provide water to the Panchagochhia villagers July 20. This sparked tension among the Sagar villagers as they protested the move and staged a dharna outside the tehsil office July 23.
PNN