6 FIRs filed, 11 held after violence in Chhattisgarh's Biranpur

A local resident was killed in the clash and three policemen suffered injuries

Police have registered six FIRs for murder, rioting and other offences against several people and arrested 11 persons so far after communal violence in Biranpur village of Chhattisgarh's Bemetara district, an official said on Thursday.

Violence had erupted in the village, located about 100 km from state capital Raipur, on April 8 allegedly after a fight between school children.

A local resident, Bhuneshwar Sahu (22), was killed in the clash and three policemen suffered injuries.

The clash prompted the district administration to impose CrPC section 144, which bars assembly of four or more people, in the area and around 1,000 policemen were deployed to control the law and order in the village.

Three days after the incident, a man, Rahim Mohammad (55) and his son Idul Mohammad (35), residents of Biranpur, were found dead with head injuries a few kilometres away from the village following which section 144 of the CrPC was enforced in the entire district.

Two houses, including one belonging to Rahim Mohammad's son-in-law, were burnt by some people on the outskirts of Biranpur amid the statewide bandh called by right wing organisations on April 10 in protest against the communal violence.

Six FIRs have been lodged at Saja police station in connection with the incidents in Biranpur and two of them are related to the murder of three persons, a senior police official here said.

Two separate FIRs were registered on April 8 – one in connection with the murder of Sahu and another related to the attack on a police team, he said.

Eleven people have been arrested and booked under sections 147 (punishment for rioting), 148 (whoever is guilty of rioting, being armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 307 (attempt to murder), 302 (murder) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code in the case of murder of Sahu, the official said.

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On April 10, another case was registered against 20-25 unidentified people for vandalising a house and setting ablaze a goods vehicle parked in the village on April 8, he said.

Two separate FIRs were registered under sections 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC in connection with two houses burnt on April 10 on the outskirts of Birnapur, the official said.

Another case on charges of murder was registered against unidentified persons for allegedly killing Rahim Mohammad and his son, he said. Their bodies were recovered from a murum mine near the village on April 11.

No arrest has been made in any case except Sahu's murder, according to police.

The police have been investigating all the cases and interrogating suspects, they said. All roads leading to the village have been barricaded by police.