Haryana’s Nuh under curfew amid allegations of orchestrated violence

Home Minister Anil Vij said that someone who wanted to disturb the peace in Haryana engineered the violence in Nuh.

Chandigarh: Someone who wanted to disturb the peace in Haryana engineered the violence in Nuh, state Home Minister Anil Vij said on Tuesday as authorities imposed a curfew in the district after the previous day’s violence.

Four people were killed and several others injured in Nuh following violence that erupted over an attempt to stop a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession on Monday. A mosque was attacked in the Sector 57 area of Gurugram, leading to the death of a man and taking the toll in the violence to five, police said on Tuesday.

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Vij said a curfew has been clamped on Nuh district.

Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will hold a meeting here with Vij and officials, including the chief secretary and senior police officers, to take stock of the situation in Nuh, official sources said.

The situation in Nuh continues to be tense. However, there were no reports of any fresh violence on Tuesday.

Security has been strengthened in Nuh and other areas, officials said.

Speaking to reporters in Ambala, Vij said the incident in Nuh does not appear to have happened all of a sudden.

“The level of violence that took place and also occurred at different points, the way stones were collected, the way weapons were brandished, the way shots were fired, it does not appear to have happened all of a sudden,” said Vij.

Both the communities live peacefully there, he said.

Somebody who wanted to disturb peace in the state and the country engineered or masterminded this incident, claimed Vij.

However, he added, “I don’t want to immediately reach any conclusion. Our primary objective is to bring the situation under control and maintain peace.” Vij said he has asked the officials concerned to investigate the incident thoroughly.

“After investigation, whatever comes up, nobody will be spared,” he said.

The Haryana minister added that forces from neighbouring Palwal, Faridabad, Gurgaon, Jhajjar and Rewari districts were sent after violence erupted in Nuh.

“Today forces from other parts of Haryana are being sent,” he said.

Vij further said he has spoken to Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and the state has been allotted 20 companies of central forces. If need arises to airlift forces from any far-off place, the Indian Air Force has been asked to be on standby.

Some companies of central forces have already reached Nuh, he further said and added that an alert has been sounded in other districts as well.

To a question on the dead, Vij said two home guards were killed and many police personnel suffered injuries.

He said 15 people were brought to the medical college in Nalhar while one was brought dead. He is yet to be identified. Three police personnel who suffered gunshot wounds are on ventilator support.

Vij added that several people were taken hostage in a temple. A team led by Additional Director General of Police Mamta Singh evacuated them.

Opposition leaders have hit out at the BJP-led Haryana government in wake of “intense communal tension” in Nuh.

Khattar on Monday said the “strictest action” will be taken against those responsible for the incident.