Ratlam: One person was killed and five others were seriously injured after two groups clashed following a minor dispute over sharing water from a pond in Chitawad village of Ratlam district late on Saturday.
Ratlam remained tense for several hours and police force was deployed to avoid a flare up. Heavy police force has been deployed in the village due to tension, police said.
According to information, the trouble began when the families had an altercation over fetching water for irrigation on late Saturday night at the village, some 16 km from the district headquarters, police said. “The dispute turned violent when members of one of the erring families burnt the water pump of the rival family ensuing a fight leaving one person dead and four others injured,” Bilpank police station in charge Varun Tiwari, under whose jurisdiction the incident took place, said.
Ratlam superintendent of police Amit Singh said that there have never been any history of clashes in the village where families from different communities have been living in harmony.
The incident was reported around 10:00 pm after a fight ensued between two villagers having adjoining farms over sharing water from a common pond.
“They have been fighting since long over using water pumps in the pond. Since, both use their personal pumps at the same time, break down of pumps have been a regular occurrence. On Saturday, a similar incident happened leading to the fight,” said Singh.
Later, more people joined in and both groups clashed using sharp weapons and sticks. Most of them received injuries on their head while one of them was stabbed with a sharp edged weapon on his chest. All the injured were immediately rushed to the hospital by the passersby where one of them succumbed to his injuries late night, police said.
