Day after: Villagers, officials in standoff for hours over funeral of 10 dead

A day after the shootout over a piece of land in Sonbhadra district that killed 10 people, the villagers there were locked in a standoff for several hours with the local administration -- over land to bury their dead.

The standoff continued till late Thursday evening as police conducted more raids, finally nabbing a village headman who is the main accused in the violence. Altogether, 26 people have been arrested.

Apart from the 10 killed, 18 others were injured Wednesday when they resisted an attempt by village pradhan Yagya Dutt and his supporters to take possession of the 90 bighas of disputed land in the district's Ghorawal area.

The men accompanying the village head had allegedly opened fire, killing nine people on the spot.

On Thursday, as the Opposition created uproar in the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council over the deaths and the state's scheduled tribes commission decided to send a team to the spot, there was gloom in the nondescript Ubha village.

Also on was a dispute between the villagers and the administration over the burial of the bodies.

The villagers, belonging to the Gond tribe, usually cremate those who die of old age. Those who die young or unnatural deaths are often buried, they said.

The villagers were adamant that the bodies should be buried at the spot where the shootout took place, which is on the disputed piece of land itself.

But the administration wanted the last rites only at places where the villagers traditionally perform them.

The matter was resolved late in the evening when officials managed to persuade the villagers to give up their demand.

Villager Ramraj said three generations of his family had farmed on the land, and alleged there had been illegal attempts to evict them before.

The land earlier belonged to an IAS officer and he had sold it to Yagya Dutt, who wanted to take possession, Uttar Pradesh DGP O P Singh had earlier told PTI.

The police also said they had initiated proceedings some time back for attachment of that piece of land.

Shocked villagers fumbled for words when a PTI correspondent visited the Ubha Thursday.

The villagers were demanding that no one involved in the firing should escape punishment.

Nandlal said his wife Basmati (45) died in the firing. Another villager, Rambali, lost his brother and sister-in-law.

The FIR registered by the police names 11 assailants and mentions that 50 others were involved in the shootout.

Police have arrested Girijesh and Vimlesh, two nephews of the village head hours after the violence. The headman was arrested Thursday,