Three villages in Jharkhand’s Ramgarh district turned into a battlefield for eight hours on Sunday after police purportedly seized over 60kg of banned meat, carcasses of seven slaughtered animals and tools used for killing them, besides rescuing 11 oxen and nine buffaloes.

The police said the situation in Rahmat Nagar, Ram Nagar and Ahmad Nagar was under control.

Seven persons were detained till the evening.

Giridih SP Nidhi Dwivedi was tipped off that animal slaughter and trade in banned meat were continuing unabated in villages close to Barkipona railway station, about 20km from the district headquarters and 60km from the state capital.

After verification, Dwivedi formed a special team led by SDPO Radha Prem Kishore to conduct raids, which began around 2am.

While most male residents of the villages fled, women and children locked themselves up inside their houses.

Some youths started pelting the police with stones when the raiding team began seizing banned meat, carcasses and the equipment.

Police vehicles, newspersons covering the incident and commuters crossing the area were also attacked. About half a dozen police personnel, including the SDPO, sustained injuries.

Reinforcements from nearby police stations were sent to Barkipona. Soon, women and children came out of homes to resist the police action.

Although the high-voltage drama continued for nearly eight hours, no grievous injury was reported.