East Champaran superintendent of police (SP) Jitendra Rana on Friday removed Rajeshwar Prasad from the post of Raxaul police inspector and directed him to report to the district police lines.

The action came after the inspector's name cropped up in a case of attempted land-grab.

The SP said action against the police officer had been taken on the basis of a joint report submitted by Raxaul sub-divisional police officer Rakesh Kumar and sub-divisional officer Shri Prakash.

Raxaul, a sub-divisional town of East Champaran district, located 210km north of Patna on the India-Nepal border, had witnessed unruly scenes when some armed criminals opened fire in the town in an attempt to grab a six-cottah land here on Thursday.

The suspected land mafia had come from outside Raxaul and were trying to intimidate residents by showing firearms to grab the land on Block Office Road of the border town.

A team, led by Raxaul deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Rakesh Kumar, however, rushed and contained the situation.

According to the DSP, some residents own the land. The men apparently looked like outsiders and fired around 20 rounds, when residents protested.

Police also fired four rounds to contain the volatile situation.

Infuriated local residents vehemently protested the move and a timely intervention by police didn't allow the situation to spin out of control.

Rana said police had also acted quickly in the case, and all arrested people had been forwarded to judicial custody.

Police have lodged cases against 12 armed criminals under different sections of the IPC, including those dealing with the Arms Act.

Police had seized six firearms and more than a hundred bullets from the arrested men.

Investigation revealed that the armed criminals, who hailed from Patna, Nawada, Aurangabad and Jehanabad districts, had been engaged by Pawan Yadav, a Raxaul resident, to grab the plot with an estimated market value of Rs 25 crore.

Pawan absconded after his name was revealed in the case, sources said.