Three brothers Kapil Mandal, Panchanand Mandal and Ramnath Mandal have been arrested in this connection.

According to the in-charge Superintendent of Police of Araria, Manoj Kumar it is difficult to restore Kanhaiya’s eyesight, but Munna’s eyes could be healed.

Media reports said that the wives of Munna and Panchanand, who contested a by-election for mukhiya, but both lost. Another woman, whose relative was the previous mukhiya, won. The Thakurs suspected that the Mandals had given the victorious woman tacit support.

Munna recently came out of jail in a bank dacoity case. Prior to the acid attack, he had opened fire on Kapil in his house and abused him. The sarpanch decided to broker a peace between the warring parties, and a panchayat meeting was convened. When a group of persons including Kapil, Panchanand and Ramnath Mandal approached Munna, asking him to attend the meeting, he opened fire at it. But they nabbed him. They first put sand in his eyes and then poured acid. His brother was also similarly attacked with acid, the SP was quoted in the Hindu.

Panchanand handed over to the police a country-made revolver and some cartridges including one round of AK-47 ammunition recovered from Munna’s house. The police said the assailants had used the acid kept in car batteries. Munna has half a dozen cases filed against him. The police are verifying whether his brother too had criminal antecedents.