As many as 72 families of W Pudhupatti surrendered their ration cards to the revenue officials and moved to a hillock near here on Wednesday condemning the arrest of the villagers.
Police sources said that they arrested 32 villagers belonging to a sub-caste of a Scheduled Caste community of W Pudhupatti village.
Enmity between two sub-castes was prevailing for more than 20 years. Many people had been killed. Attempt to murder and burning of houses were common occurrence in the village.
In 2010, after the murder of one Karupaiah, three consecutive murders took place. After the intervention of the then district collector and the judge, peace talks were held in the village. Both communities then promised to maintain peace, following which the arrested persons were released.
Since the villagers clashed again, police arrested 26 persons from one community and six from another community. Following this, 72 families informed the media that they would submit their family ration cards and move to a hillock.
Revenue officials pacified them, but they demanded release of the arrested persons. They surrendered their cards to the revenue officials, police added.