Police fired in the air after contract labourers of Tata Steel, protesting against the alleged beating of one of their colleague by a security guard, set fire to several vehicles in the company premises here and attacked them with brickbats when they tried to intervene.
The incident sparked off when a company security man slapped one of the labourers after a verbal dual broke out between them over entering its premises, East Singhbhum Deputy Commissioner Ravindra Agarwal and SP Navin Kumar Singh told reporters.
The angry labourers set fire to several vehicles parked inside the company premises and two police jeeps. Dozens of motorcycles and bicycles and an equipment for registering attendance were also damaged during the incident, DSP P N Ram said.
When the police intervened, the labourers attacked them with brickbats, Mr. Ram said, adding that four policemen were injured in the brick batting.
The police then fired four rounds in the air to quell the mob, he said.
The situation is under control now, Mr. Agarwal said.
Meanwhile, Tata Steel officials said the incident had nothing to do with the company as the problem was an issue between a contractor and his labourers.
