Six cops injured as villagers clash with police in Chhattisgarh’s Surajpur coal mine protest

At least half a dozen police personnel, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police, clashed with villagers in Chhattisgarh’s Surajpur district on Friday, July 24, 2026.

Police said they were attacked by a gang when they went to arrest a defendant in an ongoing criminal case. Villagers alleged that the police team was accompanying a survey team to acquire land for mining purposes; This claim was disputed by a senior police officer. “The situation escalated further after the police attacked an elderly person.” According to village Sarpanch.

The incident took place in Dharampur-Madannagar villages under the jurisdiction of Pratappur police station, where the police team had gone to arrest some accused in the morning.

Surajpur Additional Superintendent of Police Yogesh Dewangan told reporters, without adding context or details of the case.

“We predicted that there might be resistance to the arrests and arrived at the scene fully prepared. However, we did not expect the opposition to resort to such violence. The villagers resisted the operation aggressively and more than 6 police officers were injured,” he said.

He added that the villagers threw stones at the police and chased them with sticks.

To a question referring to villagers’ allegations that the deployment of police was linked to land survey for a proposed coal mining project in the area, SP Dewangan said there was no land survey team accompanying the police force.

Village Sarpanch Babulal Poya said that a police team along with the investigation team of the mining company came to the village around 3 am and took away his elder son Birendra. This led to a protest by villagers that turned violent, the official added.

“This morning, the police team came and took my son away and asked him to accompany them to look for me. I was not at home at that time as I went to my fields before dawn. When I returned, I learned that Birendra had been taken and the protests had started,” he said.

Regarding how the entire incident was linked to mining, he said the police were accompanied by the investigation team that had arrived earlier. “They had visited earlier this month as well. The village has not issued its NOC for mining and this is a unilateral action by the government, which has offered compensation much less than market rates and is not even willing to discuss the issue,” he said, adding that almost its entire population consists of Gond tribals and the area is one of the tribal majority areas listed in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India.

Hindu Repeated attempts were made to reach Mr. Dewangan and District SP Yogesh Patel, but it was not possible to comment or get the updated number of injured policemen, although there were reports that the number was more than six.