Ranchi: Violence-ridden Silagai village in Chanho police station area of Ranchi turned normal yet volatile on Wednesday, a day after the violent clash between members of two communities over a land dispute that resulted in the death of a villager and caused injury to 33 people including 10 police personnel and a sub divisional officer.
In view of the incident, Bajrang Dal and several other outfits have called for a statewide bandh tomorrow. Samajwadi Party and several tribal organizations have announced to lend support to the bandh. Members of two communities had clashed violently at Chanho near a disputed land while claiming right on it. One of the community alleged that the land bandobasti was faulty. The other community members opposed this and reacted violently, police said.
Senior administrative officials of the state led by the Chief Secretary Sajal Chakravarty and DGP Rajeev Kumar paid a visit to the controversial site and took stock of the law and order situation.
The Chief Secretary appealed to the villagers to maintain peace in the area and not pay heed to rumours of any kind. He admitted that the block development officer and circle officer of Chanho had not shown adequate sensitivity to the land issue which triggered violence.
Meanwhile, the deputy commissioner of Ranchi Vinay Kumar Choubey reached Chanho and handed a cheque of Rs 5 lakh to the wife of Dashrath Oraon, who was killed in mob violence yesterday. Some of the villagers were adamant on performing the last rites of the deceased at the spot where he was killed. The DC talked to the villagers and persuaded them to give up the demand.
Former Chief Minister Arjun Munda met the villagers and blamed the state administration for the incident. Former Union minister and Congress leader Subodhkant Sahay too, met the villagers and appealed to them to keep peace in the area.
In a bid to prevent further violence, senior SP Prabhat Kumar and many other police officials were deputed at the controversial site. Security was beefed up in the area after the incident. Prohibitory order has been clamped in the area.
