Patna, Oct. 27: The Ranvir Sena today blamed state Samajwadi Party president Dadan Pehalwan for fanning a ?caste war? in the region, which, it said, led to violent incidents in Koran Sarai village of Buxar over the past couple of days.
The upper caste Ranvir Sena?s claim came as police filed FIRs against Pehalwan, rival Congress leader Sanjay Tiwari alias Munna Tiwari along with 27 supporters of the duo.
The Dumraon area, particularly the vicinity of Koran Sarai, has turned into a virtual cantonment with hundreds of police, special task force, CRPF and Bihar Military Police personnel launching a massive combing operation and conducting house-to-house searches. Range DIG Ravindra Kumar is camping in the village.
While the main accused, including Tiwari, are absconding, sources said the police have rounded up more than a dozen people so far, while seizing arms, ammunition and vehicles from the village.
One person was killed and four injured when a mob, bent upon preventing Tiwari?s arrest, turned violent and the police resorted to firing. A police van was burnt while the vehicles of the district magistrate and the police magistrate were damaged by the mob.
Superintendent of police O.N. Bhaskar said Pehalwan, the MLA from Dumraon and a former minister in the Rabri Devi government, would soon be arrested. The charges pressed against Pehalwan and Pandey include those of unlawful assembly, fanning caste hatred and creating panic by opening fire. Their supporters had clashed on Monday after a minor scuffle.
Tiwari, who has lost three Assembly elections from Dumraon, and Pehalwan are political rivals and their supporters have rarely missed an opportunity to get even with each other.
Movement of vehicles on the Dumraon-Bikaramganj highway, which had been blocked by the villagers, remained paralysed for the second day today. Sources said the entire region today wore a deserted look with the villagers remaining confined to their houses.
The police, justifying their intervention yesterday, said had they not acted, there could have been a massacre in the village. A source, who was in touch with Tiwari, quoted him as saying that Pehalwan was squarely to be blamed for the disturbances, while the Yadav leader made similar allegations against him.
?The incidents and the trading of charges have deepened the caste division in the region, which has a substantial presence of Brahmins as well as Yadavs. The development is certain to have far-reaching political ramifications and the intervention of Ranvir Sena will further worsen the situation,? the source said.
Police sources said they suspected a ?strong involvement? of the Ranvir Sena in the incidents, while the caste army?s communiqu? claimed that it would conduct an inquiry and ?militarily punish? those responsible.
