Nine persons, including some officials, were today injured in Godda district when agitators clashed with police during a blockade organised by a tribal outfit in the Santhal Pargana region.
"An agitator Bam Shankar suffered bullet injury when police opened fire to control a mob near Kasturi village under Poreyahaat police station in Godda district," Superintendent of Police Ajay Linda said.
Shankar has been referred to a hospital in Bihar's Bhagalpur, he said.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Manoranjan Prasad, Sub-divisional Officer Pawan Kumar, officers incharge of Town and Poreyahaat Police stations, a block development officer and his driver and two others on the administration side suffered injuries when the protesters allegedly attacked them with traditional weapons, forcing the police to open fire to disperse the mob, the SP said.
They torched the vehicle of the BDO, he said.
A large number of people under the banner of 'Melar Adeem Janjati Sangharsh Samiti' resorted to blockade since yesterday and turned violent today in Godda, the SP said, adding the situation was under control.
The police said blockades were removed in all the places across Santhal Pargana, including those staged at twelve spots in Dumka.
Their main demand was inclusion of Maler tribal community in the list of primitive tribes, the outfit's head Damodar Singh Maler told reporters in Dumka.
