Buxar: A dispute over a power outage sparked a violent clash between residents of two localities in New Bhojpur under Naya Bhojpur police station area on Saturday night, leaving one person seriously injured and prompting a heavy police deployment.The clash erupted between residents of Ward 7 and Ward 6, that share an electricity transformer that villagers said frequently gets overloaded, causing repeated power disruptions. An argument broke out around 8pm after another outage, escalating into a confrontation between the two groups.Though villagers initially intervened and calmed the situation, tensions flared again shortly afterwards when a group of youths allegedly entered the neighbouring locality and began pelting stones and bricks.During the violence, ZahirDarji, a resident of Darji Mohalla, suffered a serious head injury after being struck by a brick while sitting outside his house. He was rushed to Dumraon sub-divisional hospital for treatment.Family members of the injured man alleged that some miscreants also fired shots in the air to create panic. Residents said they rushed indoors after hearing gunfire. Police said they recovered one spent cartridge and one live cartridge from the spot and are investigating the firing allegation.Naya Bhojpur SHO Chandan Kumar, along with police personnel, brought the situation under control. Later, Dumraon SDPO Sameer Kumar Singh and circle inspector Arvind Kumar reached the village, but the alleged attackers had fled by then.Based on Zahir’s statement, police registered a named FIR against several accused, including Surya Kumar Paswan and Jagnarayan Paswan of New Bhojpur North. Raids were underway to arrest those named in the case.On Sunday, SDM Rajiv Kumar, CO Brijesh Kumar Dwivedi, police officials and power department representatives met villagers to review the situation. Residents raised concerns over alleged liquor smuggling, anti-social activities and women’s safety in the area.To prevent a recurrence, the SDM directed officials to either increase the capacity of the existing transformer or install an additional one. Authorities also assured residents that CCTV cameras and streetlights would be installed, while police were asked to identify and act against suspected liquor smugglers.
