Chandigarh/Gurgaon: Authorities in Haryana’s Mewat district Saturday imposed curfew in Punhana town to curb any flare up between two communities following the killing of a youth from the minority community.
Mewat Deputy Commissioner Ramesh Chand Verma said curfew was imposed in Punhana, 375 km from here (130 km from Delhi), as a precautionary measure.
Curfew was imposed at 11 a.m. but relaxed for two hours (5 p. m. to 7 p.m.). No untoward incident was reported during the relaxation period, police said.
The army has been put on stand-by.
Though the administration denied that the killing of the youth, who belonged to a minority community, had anything to with Thursday’s (April 10) Lok Sabha polling in Haryana, the curfew was imposed as tension started building up between two communities.
The body of 24-year-old Wajid was found Friday evening. Earlier, a clash had taken place between activists of the Congress and the opposition Indian National Lok Dal.
Verma appealed to people not to believe in rumours and help maintain law and order.
“Teams of police personnel and paramilitary forces have been deployed at different places in the city,” he said.
Wajid, a resident of Nakanpur area of Punhana, was shot in the head, police said. His body was buried Saturday after a post-mortem examination.
Nine people, including three Meos (Muslims) were booked for the murder, a police officer told IANS.