According to the police, Bhabhor, along with 80 people from Nani Kharaj village who were armed with bows and arrows, attacked Sarsoda on Wednesday afternoon, in which three persons were injured. On learning about the incident, Inspector A M Bhati said, a team of five police officials reached the spot.

“When we reached the spot, a group of 80 led by Bhabhor was standing on one side, while 200-odd villagers from Sarsoda were on the other side, armed with bows and arrows. We could not take any action at that point of time as we were outnumbered, so we called for reinforcement,” said Bhati, who is posted at Garbada for the last six months.

However, as soon as the reinforcement, which included two deputy superintendents of police, two inspectors, including a Local Crime Branch inspector, reached the village, the attackers fled the scene.

“We chased them for two and a half kilometres, but they managed to climb the hill as they were ahead of us by 700-800 metres,” said Vipul Aggarwal, District Superintendent of Police. He denied any firing by the police.

Bhati said that around two days ago, based on a complaint lodged by Bhabhor, they had arrested six people from the village for rioting over some cattle issue. “Bhabhor had alleged in the complaint that some tribals from the village had stolen cattle from his village,” he added.