At least six police personnel were injured after villagers attacked a police team trying to arrest accused in pending criminal cases in Chhattisgarh’s Surajpur district on Friday, police said.
Additional Superintendent of Police (Addl SP) Yogesh Dewanjan said the police team went to Dharampur and Madanagar villages to arrest people wanted in old criminal cases and denied villagers’ allegations that the police deployment was linked to a proposed coal mining project.
“The team only went to arrest the accused in the pending cases. One of the accused was arrested, while the others were not found. There was no survey team at the site, only police personnel,” Dewanjan said.
Diwanjan said they expected resistance and deployed a large police contingent for the operation. The officer did not reveal details about the suspects tracked by the police or the cases in which they were wanted.
“We expected that there might be resistance to the arrests and we arrived at the place fully prepared. But we did not expect the opposition to turn so violent. The villagers strongly resisted the operation, resulting in more than six police personnel being injured,” Diwanjan said.
Officials said that villagers threw stones at the police team and chased them with sticks, forcing them to retreat.
Videos circulating on social media showed police officers, including policewomen, wearing riot gear, running along the road while being chased by a crowd of people. Several individuals reportedly fell and sustained injuries. Deputy Inspector of Police Rajesh Joshi was among those injured, police said.
Police said the situation was under control later in the day.
About 250 police personnel participated in the operation, with reinforcements brought in from neighboring areas.
The incident comes days after villagers in the area protested against a land acquisition survey for a proposed coal mining project. However, police confirmed that Friday’s operation was only aimed at executing outstanding arrest warrants and had no connection to the survey.
