6 cops among 18 hurt in clash over burning of funeral pyre

PATNA Police had to open fire in air to quell a mob indulged in stone pelting and firing following a violent clash over burning of a funeral pyre in Aurangabad district on Sunday. At least six police personnel, including a circle inspector and a station house officer, were injured in the stone pelting.
The injured cops are undergoing treatment at the referral hospital at Amba. Earlier, 12 people from two rival groups were injured in the clash. Police have so far detained six people for attacking cops and obstructing them from discharging duty.
Trouble started around 8am when some residents of Kasauti village reached a pond on the outskirts of neighbouring Bharat village with the body of a woman, who had died on Saturday night. As the kin of the woman was about to lit the pyre, a group of people rushed to the cremation site and stopped them. This led to a clash between the residents of Kasauti and Bharat villages in which 12 people were injured.
On getting information, police teams from Amba and Kutumba police stations reached the spot and tried to bring the situation under control. However, the villagers started pelting the police personnel with stones, causing head injuries to circle inspector Satish Kumar, SHO of Amba police station Birendra Paswan and four more cops.
Aurangabad SP (incharge) Pankaj Kumar said police fired three rounds in the air to disperse the violent mob. “Nobody was injured in the police firing. A police team led by Aurangabad deputy superintendent of police Anup Kumar is camping at the village. The pyre of the woman was lit under the supervision of circle officer Anil Kumar,” the SP added.
Mithilesh Paswan, a local, said they have been burning the pyre at the village pond for long, but never witnessed any protest from the residents of Bharat village earlier.