Charred trucks and dumpers that were torched by a mob on the main highway of Kathara, about 70km from Bokaro steel city, on Wednesday. (Below) Bokaro SP Laxman Singh and DC Satyendra Singh patrol the market area on Thursday. Pictures by Pankaj Singh

Bokaro, June 4: One person was killed while 14 others were injured yesterday evening when police opened fire to quell protests against an accident that left a 14-year-old schoolgirl dead at Bokaro Thermal in Kathara, 70km from the steel city.

The girl, identified as Nisha Kumari, had passed her Class X examinations from Kathara High School a few days ago and was hoping to take admission in KB College, Bermo. She was run over by a loaded dumper around 8pm triggering angry protests.

A mob armed with sharp weapons first blocked the highway from all four sides and then set 10 trucks and dumper ablaze. This forced the police to intervene and open almost 100 rounds of fire. The person who died in the firing has been identified as Rajkumar Turi. Two other residents Shyamlal Mahto and Baidyanath Yadav were injured.

Besides them, five policemen — Bokaro thermal police station officer-in-charge Shyam Kishore and sub-inspectors Antu Ram, Ramod Singh, Praduman Dubey and R.P. Singh — and seven scribes including Pravin Pathak, Lalchand Mahto, Ramchandra Anjana and Sanjay were also injured. Ramod’s condition is said to be critical and he is under treatment at Bokaro General Hospital.

What fuelled the mob’s reaction was, however, another accident, which took place 24 hours earlier. On Tuesday evening, a youth Bhuvneshwar Gope died when his motorcycle collided with a dumper in Kathara.

According to eyewitness Ramesh Mahto, at about 8pm last evening, a fast moving truck loaded with ash from the Bokaro thermal plant hit a motorcycle on which Nisha was travelling with uncle Prayag Yadav to the market to buy new clothes.

Nisha died on the spot while Prayag was left unconscious. Hundreds of people present in the market place gathered and as a mark of protest set the truck ablaze. In the next half an hour, they set nine more trucks and dumpers on fire and blocked the highway from all four sides.

The mob did not allow fire brigade officials to reach the spot. Drivers of the fire tenders Raviraman Yadav and Ramjan Miyan were thrashed by the mob and are now admitted to hospital.

The police managed to enter the zone by 8.30pm but failed to pacify the crowd immediately. The residents attacked the police and Suresh Paswan, the bodyguard of the Bermo assistant superintendent of police (ASP), was also beaten up. No one was spared, seven journalists were also attacked.

The unruly scene continued for about two hours and situation came under control after the police opened fire. According to Bermo ASP Kranti Kumar, about 100 rounds were fired yesterday.

Jagdish Mahto and Rama Turi, two residents of Kathara, said the attack was an outburst against transporters who had made their lives hell by carrying dumpers and trucks round the clock in the area. Several complaints have been made but the police have not done anything in this regard, they said.

Today, SP Laxman Singh and deputy commissioner Satyendra Singh camped in the area for more than two hours and posted three companies of policemen, including two companies of Rapid Action Force to control the situation. However, no residents or businessman opened their shops in protest against the incident.

Talking to The Telegraph, the SP said that the situation was tense but things were under control. “The incident was an outburst against the accident but the real problem was that residents did not want trucks carrying ashes to enter the area,” he said.