Ballia: A clash between locals and government officials over the construction of a drain in a village here left four people, including two police constables, injured, officials said on Thursday.

Eight people, including five women, have been arrested in connection with the incident which occurred in Majhvaliya village under the Sikandarpur police station area on Wednesday, the police officials said.

Naib Tehsildar C P Yadav, Village Development Officer Pramod Kumar Singh and the village head were overseeing the construction of a drainage system in Majhvaliya when a mob led by a villager, Manohar Lal, gathered there, police said.

The mob pelted the government team with stones and attacked them with sticks in a bid to halt the construction work. Four people, including Constables Ayush Singh and Vinod Kumar, were injured in the attack, the officials said.

Singh sustained serious head injuries. All the injured are undergoing treatment at the district hospital.

Deputy Superintendent of Police, Sikandarpur, Rajneesh, said a case has been registered against nine named and several unidentified persons in the matter. Eight accused, including five women, have been arrested so far.Peace has been restored in the area, he said. In another incident, a seven-year-old girl was mauled to death by a leopard in a village in Uttar Pradesh’s Bijnor district, police said on Thursday.

Tanika was playing outside her home in Mandoura village late Wednesday when a leopard dragged away into a field nearby, Circle Officer (Dhampur) Abhay Kumar said.

Following an extensive search operation, the girl’s mutilated body was recovered from a field about half a kilometre from her home on Thursday, the officer said.

The body has been sent for post-mortem, Kumar added.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Ritu Rani met villagers and assured them that efforts would be made to capture the leopard at the earliest.