PURI: An eerie silence prevails in Gambhari village following the Friday clash that claimed lives of two persons and left many injured. Police on Saturday arrested one Padmalochan Parida and registered cases against over 100 villagers, belonging to both Congress and BJD. SP Anup Sahoo along with five platoons of armed police entered the village late on Friday night after the warring parties escaped. Sources said while the police were inspecting each household, on the outskirts of the village some country-made bombs were hurled. Scores of villagers have left Gambhari apprehending police action. Security personnel deployed in the village are keeping a close watch on the situation. Meanwhile, the bodies of the deceased persons have been handed over to their families after postmortem. On Friday, in a clash between the BJD and Congress supporters in the village under Brahmagiri police limits, two persons were brutally killed while 18 injured. Sudhakar Dalei and Basudeb Jena, believed to be supporters of Congress and BJD respectively, were gunned down in a pitched battle that saw explosion of five bombs. Besides, at least 15 houses were destroyed. Ever since the BJD nominees lost in the panchayat polls in the area, the village has been witnessing a large-scale violence with supporters of both the political parties going on warpath. The groups are clashing at regular intervals while hundreds of houses belonging to both the groups have been razed. Even after deployment of police and regular patrolling in the area, there is no let-up in the situation. On February 24 last, there was a similar battle between the two groups and over 47 had sustained bullet and sharp weapon injuries. About 50 houses were damaged. The police then had registered a criminal case against 111 persons and so far managed to arrest only seven. They are still investigating the case. Since then a contingent of armed police has been camping there to curb further violence.
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