India, Aug. 27 -- DNA tests are often used to establish paternity, but in Bihar's Gayaji, the police is considering using one to establish ownership - of a buffalo.

Two men, Suraj Yadav and Prakash Manjhi have staked claim to the same buffalo. Yadav claims his buffalo went missing from his village, Seutar, in the Gaya district, but that he found it a week later, in the house of Prakash Manjhi, and brought it back home. This prompted a police complaint by Manjhi, who, in turn, claimed, he had legally leased the buffalo from someone.

The police's initial solution was homespun-they simply allowed the buffalo to find its way home; it went to Yadav's house, which incensed Manjhi enough to file a complaint under the Scheduled Caste and Schedu...