People look for belongings in the gutted house. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, April 27: A land dispute in Bankuala area near Tankapani road in the city took a violent turn today with four women sustaining injuries in attacks and a house being set on fire.

The Sahid Nagar police arrested five persons in connection with the violence.

Police said the violence was the fallout of a dispute between the families of Dhudia Bhanja and Shyam Bhanja over a plot of land.

The two families had a fight yesterday following which members of Dhudia family had lodged a complaint at the local police station.

However, today the situation turned ugly as the Dhudia family attacked members of the rival family leaving four women, including one of their neighbours, injured. They also set Shyam’s house on fire.

The injured were identified as Sili Bhanja (21), Pratima Bhanja (17), Saraswati Bhanja (17) and Dhuma Das (19), the last one being the neighbour of the family. The injured were admitted to the Capital Hospital.

According to the family members of Shyam, nearly 10 members of the rival family attacked them when no male member was present in the house. “They attacked us with sharp weapons. I sustained injuries on my hand and leg. My sister-in-law, who was pregnant, also sustained injuries,” said Saraswati Bhanja.

The fire brigade rushed to the spot and tried to douse the fire but by that time the entire house was gutted. Fire department personnel said that property worth more than Rs 2 lakh was destroyed in the blaze.

According to Subas Bhanja — the son of Shyam — his father had sold a plot of land in the area to a person few months ago. “As the person had not paid the full amount we had not given him physical possession of the land. But recently he started construction and asked the Dhudia family to keep a watch. We requested the Dhudia family not to interfere in the matter but they did not listen,” he said.