Siraha, February 15

Squatters in Mirchaiya Municipality have foiled an attempt by a local to evict them today.

Birendra Sah of Jiwa, Mirchaiya Municipality-5, Siraha had reached squatters’ settlement in the same locality, flanked by his henchmen, carrying a gun along with an excavator to evict the squatters.

Once Sah started enquiring about their leaders, the squatters informed police and then gathered around Sah and his men and threatened to attack them. Soon police reached the site and rescued Sah.

The settlement comprises some 38 Dalit households belonging to the Paswan and Mushahar communities.

They have demanded action against Sah saying he had terrorised them by trying to destroy their houses.

As per sources, Area Police Office Mirchaiya DSP Santu Jaisawal had sent a police team to the site upon learning that Sah was heading towards the squatters’ settlement wielding a gun. “We stopped him from destroying the houses on the condition that the land, if found illegally occupied, would be vacated by following the due process,” said DSP Jaisawal.

Sah has claimed that he had bought the land where the Dalits are living now from Sobha Shah and Mohan Shahi during the peak of the Maoist insurgency.