Six injured in clash between two pradhan candidates’ supporters

Six persons were injured as supporters of two village pradhan candidates clashed over voting in Ghaila village of Madiaon here on Sunday morning.

The dispute between the two groups also led to arson and vandalism as they set afire two huts and motorcycles respectively during the violence.

The incident happened just a day after the voting for village pradhan elections ended on Saturday evening.

Santosh Singh, inspector, Madiaon police station, said that five persons, who were allegedly involved in vandalism and arson, were arrested and counter FIRs registered for the clash between supporters of the two village pradhan candidates - Ubeid alias Kallu and Raees Ahmad alias Fannu.

Some locals alleged that the clash was started by supporters of Kallu, a relative of a former state minister.

Kallu, who is more influential among all candidates, had distributed money to some of the villagers for voting in his favour, a local said.

He said that Kallu and his supporters suspected that some of the villagers had not voted in his favour even after taking money from them. They then attacked the villagers.

However, supporters of Kallu alleged that Fannu and his supporters had attacked those who voted in favour of the former.

The villagers said that the hooligans barged into over half-a-dozen huts and vandalised them completely. They also pulled out some villagers from their houses and thrashed them before setting afire two huts and motorcycles parked outside their houses.

Locals also alleged that the police did not visit the area even after they were informed about the incident as soon as the hooligans entered the village. This allowed them to flee after the incident, they said.

Singh said that the supporters of both the candidates had given complaints against each other, so counter FIRs were lodged and further probe into the incident was on.