At least one dead and five, including two policemen, were injured when a procession by Bajrang Dal and Vishwa Hindu Parishad turned violent in Haryana’s Nuh on Monday.
According to PTI, the deceased was a home guard.
Prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code have been imposed in the district to prevent the assembly of five or more people and the internet services in the district suspended, said Deputy Commissioner Prashant Panwar.
Tension was brewing in the region after Bajrang Dal member Monu Mansar, a suspect in the kidnapping and murder of two young Muslim men in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur in February this year, in a video on social media a few days back claimed that he and his team would be part of the procession.
The locals opposed Monu’s visit to Nuh because of his involved in the murder case saying that it would disturb communal harmony in the region.
The violence broke out around Monday noon when around half-a-dozen vehicles carrying devotees reached Nuh Chowk leading to rumours that Monu Manesar was inside one of the vehicles.
“The vehicles had ‘Gorakshak’ written on them fuelling rumours that Monu Manesar was inside them. As soon as the vehicles reached Nuh Chowk, a handful of teenagers pelted stones on the vehicles. Soon, the mob from the neighbouring villages descended on the road and went on the rampage,” The Hindu quotes Gurugram’s Pintu Singh, 36, as saying. He sustained a shrapnel injury in the attack, the newspaper reported.
Claiming that about “3,000-4,000 persons were held hostage in a temple”, Haryana home minister, Anil Vij, said that the state government had already requested the Union government for additional forces.
“The ‘Shobha Yatra’ was calculated to create communal violence, very provocative videos were issued in the last two days. Despite this knowledge and apprehension the administration allowed the yatra to enter Mewat. And when violence began, the administration simply collapsed, police disappeared,” reacting to the incident, Yogendra Yadav, in a press statement.
This is a developing story
