Today's incident occurred after a landlord, claiming to be the rightful owner of the disputed plot of land, began ploughing the field using his tractor. This apparently infuriated the tribals, who killed him after firing an arrow. They then set fire to his tractor and dumped his body in the fire.

In retaliation, the landlord's community gheraoed the tribal area and set fire to at least 75 houses. Running helter skelter, most of the tribals were able to escape. But the mob managed to get hold of four women and two children, who were then burnt alive.

Purnea DM Deepak Kumar confirmed the incident, and said it was reminiscent of the Belchi massacre of 1977.D-G Jacob added that the situation in the village was now under control.