Villagers clash with police after mishap, four cops injured

SOON AFTER A LOCAL WAS RUN OVER BY A TRUCK, HUNDREDS OF VILLAGERS BLOCKED TRAFFIC ON NH 99

Four policemen, including the Chandwa police station officer in charge, were injured in violent clashes with villagers following the death of a local youth in a road mishap on Wednesday night in Jharkhand’s Latehar district.

Soon after Mithu Yadav, a resident of Makaiyatand, was run over by a speeding coalladen truck near Chitarpur on national highway 99 around 9pm, hundreds of agitated locals torched the vehicle and blocked the vehicular movement on this route connecting Chatra with Ranchi.

When the police tried to intervene, the demonstrators pelted stones and opened fire targeting the police personnel. The police also had to resort to firing in the air to quell the violent mob.

Reinforcements from Balumath and Latehar were dispatched to Chitarpur so as to prevent situation from getting worse as the tempers ran high.

Latehar superintendent of police Dhananjay Kumar Singh, sub-divisional police officer Anuj Oraon, along with senior police officers, soon reached there and brought the situation under control.

Chandwa police station officer in charge Kamleshwar Pandey and two assistant sub-inspectors sustained injuries on their heads while one ASI was hit on the left eye. The injured were rushed to local hospital.

The Latehar superintendent of police Dhananjay Kumar Singh said, “Four police officers were injured in firing and stone pelting by locals following a road mishap in which a local youth was killed. The police team also has to fire in the air to disperse the mob that had gone berserk.”

According to police, the mishap occurred when the motorcycle-borne deceased was crushed by a coal-laden truck coming from opposite direction.

The truck was transporting coal from Central Coalfields Limited’s Amrapali mine in Chatra district to Tori railway siding in Latehar district.