Patna police and district administration officials on Tuesday faced public ire when they had gone to remove illegal squatters from Rajiv Nagar area.

Rajiv Nagar residents outnumbered the police force and drove security personnel away. Residents pelted security personnel with stones, injuring over a dozen of them, incl-uding Digha police station house officer (SHO) R.K. Dubey. Dubey sustained head injuries and is undergoing treatment at Kurji Holy family hospital.

The residents torched three earthmoving (JCB) machines pressed into service to demolish the illegal structures. They also torched a police van. The Polson road area, just 1km away from Rajiv Nagar police station, turned into a battlefield in the afternoon.

The problem began around 12 noon, when district administration officials and police personnel from Digha and Rajiv Nagar area reached the spot to remove illegal encroachments on the Bihar State Housing Board's directive. The officials had gone to remove squatters from two plots measuring 2.5 acres and 2 acres.

The Bihar Housing Board Corporation has given 2.5 acres to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for its regional office centre and 2 acres to the Passport Seva Kendra for setting up its foreign section wing.

'Around 12 noon, 50 police personnel reached the spot to remove illegal encroachments from these two plots,' an eyewitness said. 'The land was encroached by some residents who had even constructed a boundary wall.'

When the police began demolishing the illegal structures, some residents opposed it. Soon a large number of people, including women, assembled at the spot and began protesting against the district administration's action. The mob began pelting the police with stones. The police caned the mob, injuring around a dozen people. But the action angered the mob, which then torched three JCB machines and a police vehicle.

The police fired in the air to control the situation but it soon spun out of control and they had to make a retreat. 'The mob was so furious they even attacked Digha SHO R.K. Dubey,' P.N. Singh, a police constable who received brick injuries on his face, said. 'They first attacked Dubey with a bamboo stick on his head and then with a brick.'

In the evening, Patna district magistrate (DM) Sanjay Kumar Agarwal and Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaaj reached the spot with a large number of police personnel. The police conducted a flag march in the area. DM Sanjay Agarwal said: 'Prima facie, it appears some outside agencies provoked the residents. The administration will talk to residents to find out who provoked them.'

SSP Maharaaj said: 'The police fired around 40 rounds in the air. We are identifying those who attacked the cops.'

But residents said the district administration launched the drive without giving them any notice and termed it barbaric. 'The issue of illegal encroachment in Rajiv Nagar is pending with the Patna High Court,' said Balram Tiwary, a resident. 'Residents and the state government are fighting a legal battle for over 40 years.' Last month the bench of justice Hemant Kumar Srivastava asked the state government and Bihar State Housing Board to file a reply on encroachment in Rajiv Nagar area within six weeks.

Sources said the problem began in 1974 when the state housing board acquired 1024.52 acres from farmers. Residents claim the government acquired land but did not give them compensation. Sources said the government acquired plots at Rs 2,200 per cottah.

While the legal battle continued, many residents constructed large structures on the disputed plot. Of 1024.52 acres, the state government in 2011 passed the Digha Rajiv Nagar Land Acquisition Act 2010, to regularise houses constructed on over 600 acres on the eastern flank of Ashiana-Digha Road. It also prohibited any construction on 424.52 acres of land, where violence broke out on Tuesday. But even then residents were undertaking construction work.

'The residents are carrying out construction work in connivance with the police,' said Santosh Kumar, a resident. 'Digha and Rajiv nagar police collect money from residents to allow them to carry out construction work.' But SSP Maharaaj said he had not received any such complaints.

'If residents make a written complaint, the police will take action in this regard,' he said.