DADU, March 15: One person was killed and four others, including two policemen, were injured in a clash between police and villagers in the Sharif ja Bhan village near Bhan Saeedabad on Monday.

The clash followed an exchange of hot words between villagers and police who had come to the village along with a Hesco team that removed a transformer of the village for non-payment of bills.

The Hesco team, led by deputy director Nisar Ahmad Abbasi, had claimed that it had found 40 illegal connections in the village and there were only seven legal connections.

It cut all connections of the village as one bill out of seven legal connections had been paid. Later, when the team was removing the transformer, villagers arrived and requested Hesco staff not to remove it as they were prepared to install meters and pay dues but the company officials removed the transformer.

Following the exchange of hot words, police resorted to firing on villagers, injuring Mehrab Khan Panhwar, Piral and Ghulam Hussain. The injured villagers were taken to the Dadu Civil Hospital where Mr Panhwar died.

Meanwhile, other villagers reached the spot and clashed with police, as a result two policemen - Kando Khan and Abdul Raheem - were injured. The injured policemen were admitted to a hospital in Bhan Saeedabad.

On the complaint of a villager, the police registered a case against three policemen and eight Hesco officials. The police also registered another FIR against 20 villagers for attacking the police party and injuring two constables. Later, 500 villagers held a protest demonstration on the Indus Highway.