A long-standing land dispute triggered a clash between two groups at Mulukdangi in the Ghirnigaon panchayat of Chopra block in North Dinajpur district on Wednesday morning.

Nine people, including three women, were injured in the confrontation between groups led by Dhanbar Ali and Rezaul Haque, both of whom are residents of the same village.

Sources have said for years, both Ali and Haque have been claiming ownership of a plot measuring approximately 22 decimals in the village.

Although some community-level meetings were held earlier, they could not reach a consensus on the issue.

On Wednesday, the situation escalated when Ali allegedly attempted to construct a toilet on the disputed land, prompting objections from Haque’s side.

A verbal altercation ensued, and it soon turned into a violent clash, during which members of both groups allegedly vandalised each other’s houses, set stored paddy and haystacks on fire, and damaged other property.

A team from the Chopra police station arrived at the scene. They brought the situation under control and helped douse the fire. The injured were taken to the block primary health centre in Dolua for treatment.

Later in the day, Haque’s family claimed that prohibitory orders had been clamped on the plot concerned for quite some time, which Ali violated by starting the construction. Ali, on the other hand, claimed that he had bought the plot in 2018, and Haque was trying to occupy it forcibly.

The police have detained four persons.