Coimbatore : Police on Monday resorted to a mild lathi charge to disperse a crowd, which gathered at the Government Hospital in Mettupalayam, where the bodies of 17 victims of wall and house collapse in a nearby village there, were kept.

Earlier, nearly 500 villagers staged picketing on the Mettupalayam highway seeking the arrest of the land owner for constructing the wall, reportedly illegally, the collapse of which caused the mishap and death.

Meanwhile, another strong group of villagers gathered at the hospital refused to accept the bodies till the land owner Sivasubramaniam ,was arrested and booked under SC/ST Act.

An argument broke out when the police sought them to disperse, which ended in push and pull between them, following which there was a mild cane charge, which resulted in a tense situation.

However, later the situation was brought under control, even as the relatives took the bodies from the Hospital authorities.