A woman among three people were killed after a heated argument over a land dispute between two groups turned into a melee in Soharwa village of Bihar on Saturday, police said today.

According to the police, a fight ensued between two groups over some dispute over land in Soharwa village under Laukha police station area on Saturday in which three people, identified as Naval Kumar, Prabhas Kumar and Bijli Devi, lost their lives.

Superintendent of Police Madhubani Sushil Kumar in a statement said seven people have been taken into custody for questioning while a hunt has been launched to nab others involved in the incident.

The senior officer said that a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), has been registered and further investigation into the incident is underway, adding that the bodies of three deceased have been sent for post-mortem.

More details regarding the circumstances of the incident are being investigated, SP Kumar said, adding that the perpetrators will soon be brought to justice.

In a similar incident, in January this year, a couple in Etah district of Uttar Pradesh was viciously beaten by a mob in a scuffle over a land dispute.

A video of the incident that had went viral at the time, showed a man and a woman being mercilessly thrashed with sticks as they lay on the ground even as a mob tries to stop the attackers from beating up the duo and tries to shield them with this own body.

However, the mob doesn’t relent and continues administering the vicious beating as the victims lay writhing on the ground.

Reports at the time said, a police team arrived on the scene after they were informed of the incident and took swift action against the attackers and also rushed the two victims to a medical facility for treatment.

A teacher working at a private inter-college was arrested for marrying a 17-year-old girl student in Gangavaram Mandal area of Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district, official said.

A senior police official said, the accused, identified as 33-year-old Chalapathy, tricked the Class 12 student into marrying him at a temple in Tirupati.

Giving details, Sub-Inspector Sudhakar Reddy of the Andhra Pradesh Police said that Chalapathy—who is already married and has a daughter—took the girl to Tirupati on Wednesday after her final school exams concluded and swayed her with sweet talk, asking the minor to trust him and that he’s honest and will always take care of her.

The officer said the accused married the minor in Tirupati but later, sensing a change in Chalapathy’s behavior, the girl contacted her parents and narrated the entire incident to her parents, who then filed a complaint against the accused at the Gangavaram police station on Thursday night.

Following the complaint by the minor girl’s parents’, an FIR under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, was registered against the accused Chalapathy, the officer said, adding that the accused was arrested and produced before a court.

Further investigation of the case is ongoing, he said.

In a related incident, earlier this month, a primary school teacher in Maharashtra’s Gondia district was arrested for allegedly sexually harassing minor girl students in his class and showing them obscene videos on his mobile phone.

According to an official statement, a complaint filed against the 52-year-old assistant teacher posted at a Zilla Parishad school in Dangorli accused him of inappropriately touching eight Class 5 students and showing them obscene videos in February.

Based on the complaint, the teacher was arrested and a case under section 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was registered against him.

A senior police official said that the accused teacher was arrested on March 11 (Saturday), after an inquiry into the incident by the Block Education Officer (BEO).

A BJP leader was gunned down by unidentified gunmen on a highway at Shaktigarh in Purba Bardhaman district of West Bengal on Saturday evening, reports said.

According to the police, unidentified attackers opened fire on the car in which Businessman-politician Raju Jha was travelling in along with three other people.

Giving details, a senior official said Raju Jha and some colleagues were on their way to Kolkata when the car they were travelling in was fired upon by the assailants outside a confectionery shop in Shaktigarh. He said that Jha and his three colleagues sustained bullet injuries and were rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors declared the BJP leader dead on arrival, while his injured colleagues are receiving treatment and their condition is stated to be stable.

Superintendent of Police, Bardhaman, Kamnashish Sen said a case has been registered in this regard, however, the motive behind the assassination of Jha is yet to be ascertained, adding that further investigation is ongoing.

As per local media reports, Jha and his friends stopped at Shaktigar enroute Kolkata and parked the car off the highway when the attacker pulled up in another car, showered a volley of bullets on the saffron party leader and his associates, and then fled the scene.

SP Sen said nearby security camera footage is being scanned and the driver’s statement is also being recorded by the police.

Reports quoting sources said that local vendors are being questioned by the police in a bid to trace the car used in the assassination

Raju Jha, a prominent Durgapur-based businessman, who was accused of running an illegal coal business in Silpanchal during the Left Front regime in West Bengal and also has several cases lodged against him under the current Trinamool Congress rule in the state, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ahead of last assembly polls in December 2021.