49 arrested for assaulting police team in Chatra

Chatra: Police on Wednesday arrested 49 people and lodged FIRs against 400, including 300 unidentified persons, in connection with the incident in which a team of cops was thrashed in Dahuri village under the Sadar police station limits on Tuesday evening.
The residents of Dahuri village assaulted ASI Shashikant Thakur and pelted stones at his police team, injuring five other personnel and damaging a police vehicle in Sinhpur village. The locals attacked the policemen, suspecting that they came to save the drive of a pick-up van that had run over one Pappu Bharati (28), a labourer, of Dahuri near Heru bridge.
“Those involved in the incident will not be spared. I urge people not to take law in their own hands again in the future,” Chatra SP Rakesh Ranjan said. The villagers accused Thakur and his team of conniving with the driver to save him from being jailed. The mob also ripped Thakur’s uniform apart. The ASI, who was admitted to Chatra sadar hospital on Tuesday, was then referred to Sheikh Bhikhari Medical College and Hospital in Hazaribag.
“The ASI was doing his work and he was bringing the arrested driver to the local police station when villagers attacked him. We will find out why the villagers committed this crime,” a senior police official said. Locals pounced on Thakur and his team when they began evacuating the accused driver through a different route.