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Police arrested a Bengali man in connection with the woman’s murder, but Adivasi groups demanded action against more suspects.

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Authorities in Odisha’s Malkangiri district imposed restrictions on public gatherings and suspended internet services on Monday after clashes between Adivasi groups and Bengali settlers, officials said, following the murder of an Adivasi woman that escalated long-standing tensions over land.

Violence broke out on Sunday after the body of a 51-year-old Adivasi woman was recovered from a riverbank on December 4. Police said the killing appeared linked to a land dispute. At least 12 houses were damaged, several vehicles vandalised and four structures set ablaze as nearly 5,000

Adivasi residents from Rakhelguda marched to neighbouring MV-26 village, carrying traditional weapons. Shops and homes belonging to Bengali settlers were looted or burned, according to local media reports.

About 100 Bengali families live in the MV-26 settlement, part of a cluster of villages established in the 1950s when the Union government rehabilitated Hindu Bengali migrants from present-day Bangladesh. Adivasi groups in the area have long opposed these settlements, arguing they encroach on tribal land and threaten traditional rights.

Police arrested Subharanjan Mondal, a resident from the Bengali community, in connection with the woman’s murder, but Adivasi groups demanded action against more suspects. Two people were detained over Sunday’s violence, officials said.

To contain the unrest, district authorities suspended mobile and broadband internet for 24 hours and prohibited gatherings of more than five persons in two villages.

Malkangiri Superintendent of Police Vinod Patil said the situation was “under control” and that Rapid Action Force personnel had been deployed.

Odisha’s Director General of Police later confirmed that 11 platoons of police and Border Security Force personnel had been stationed in the area, along with a temporary halt on liquor sales.

Several Bengali families fled MV-26 following the violence. Others from nearby villages protested at the district collector’s office on Monday, demanding protection and swift action against the attackers.