A local administration officer and several other cops were attacked by a mob at a village in Jharkhand's Saraikela on Friday. The local officer and the police personnel had gone to the village, where a mela was going on, to convince the organisers to stop the gathering as hundreds attending the event were at the risk of becoming vulnerable to the virus.
The villagers, however, pelted stones at the police and chased them away. Saraikela SP Mohammad Arshi told India Today TV that eight people have been arrested for attacking the police and the local administration officer with stones.
The incident happened in Saraikela's Bamni village where the mela was organised. When the block development officer heard about the mela, he, fearing many could contract the virus, reached the spot and asked the villagers to stop the event. The villagers, however, surrounded the local administration officer.
Sensing trouble, the local administration officer called the police station for backup. As several policemen arrived at the scene, some agitated mela attendees threw stones and chased them with sticks.
Videos of the incident showed policemen running towards their vehicles as several villagers threw stones and chased them with sticks.
Jharkhand on Friday registered 7,595 new infections that pushed the coronavirus caseload of the state to 1,84,951. The death toll rose to 1,715 as the state reported a record number of 106 fresh fatalities in the last 24 hours.
(With inputs from Manish Chandra)