Three Bhojpur cops injured in clash with puja committee members

ARA: Three police personnel were injured in the clash with a Chhath puja committee members at Aayar village under the same police station area in Bhojpur district on Friday. The incident took place when the puja committee members insisted on taking out a procession before immersing the idol in a local pond. The police opposed it on the ground that no prior permission was sought by them for that.
The police lodged an FIR against 20 named and 25 unknown persons and arrested Om Praksh Choudhary and Mithilesh Choudhary of Aayar village in this connection.Later, the villagers gheraoed the Aayar police station demanding immediate release of the arrested persons. They alleged high-handedness by the SHO and the local police.
“The villagers perform Chhath puja at a local pond situated just behind Aayar police station. The SHO had cooperated with the committee members in the arrangements. They had installed an idol of Sun God. When the SHO asked them to seek permission and get a licence as is required by the law, they promised to immerse the idol in the pond itself without taking out any procession. But at around 11:30am on Friday, they took out a procession with loudspeakers blaring,” Jagdishpur SDPO Shyam Kishore Ranjan told this newspaper.
“When the police tried to reason with the agitators, they turned violent and attacked the police with ‘dandas’ in which one jamadar and two constables sustained minor injuries,” he added.