Rautahat, December 17

Police fired eight rounds of tear gas to bring the situation under control after unidentified persons started hurling stones in a weekly bazaar in Birta of Garuda Municipality, Rautahat, today.

According to sources, a group led by Shekh Hussein of Shreepur, Garuda, had attacked Ward No 9 Chairperson of Garuda Municipality Rajesh Sahani and his father Hari Sahani while they were on a bike on Friday. The attack was then followed by a clash between two groups after  supporters of the Sahanis gathered at the site. Police had to fire five rounds of tear gas and two rounds of bullets in the air to bring the situation under control.

Today’s incident is said to be linked to Friday’s incident, which was again linked to about another incident that happened about three months ago.

On September 19, there had been a clash between two groups over the issue of cremating the body of a local in Shreepur. The clash had happened after a local non-Hindi community had tried to prevent the Hindu community from carrying out the final rites of the dead on the site which they had been using as a cremation ground for years.

Seven days later, after the first clash, there had been another clash over the issue of cremation of another body there. Police had to fire 23 rounds of tear gas and 32 rounds of bullets in the air to bring the situation under control. While the police had to be deployed at the site for three days, there had been an agreement between both sides not to repeat such clashes in the future.

District Police Office Rautahat DSP Mahendra Prasad Marasini said the incident was linked to the previous incident. “As for now, we’ve taken the situation under control. The guilty will be detained following investigation,” he said.