Jamshedpur, Sept. 16: Police today intervened on time to stop what could have been a major clash between the armed employees of a liquor distributor and a wholesaler.

The staff of Laxmi Narayan Ramswaroop Shivhare, the state’s sole liquor distributor firm, attacked liquor wholesaler Gurusharan Singh and his staff on Kalimati Road.

Five guns and about 25 live cartridges were seized from the attackers.

Singh, the proprietor of Steel City Wine Shop, was transporting liquor on three auto-rickshaws from his godown in Bistupur to his bar in Burmamines when they were stopped by the other group on Kalimati Road in Sakchi this evening.

A passing police patrol team intervened and pacified the situation, and arrested six people working for the distributor. However, said police sources, five of the attackers escaped in a four-wheeler by taking advantage of the chaos.

Officer-in-charge of Sakchi police station Birendra Prasad Yadav said: “When Singh and his staff reached Kalimati Road, armed employees of the distributor intercepted the three-wheelers and started beating them up.”

The arrested said they had acted in self-defence.

In a statement to the police, they alleged that Singh was carrying spurious liquor and they had stopped the vehicle only to check the consignment, as they were responsible for the liquor sold in the state. But the wholesaler and his men attacked them, the statement added.

Singh and one of his employees were rushed to Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College and Hospital for treatment.

Following the attack, prominent Sikhs of the city lead by president of Central Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee Sardar Shailendra Singh assembled at Sakchi police station and demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits. The members of the delegation threatened to take to the streets if necessary action was not taken by tomorrow.