GURUGRAM (HARYANA): The toll in the violence erupting in parts of Haryana on Monday climbed to four, with two more people killed on Tuesday.
The violence erupted when a religious procession, organized by Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), wending its way through Haryana’s Nuh district, was attacked at Nuh Chowk.
Meanwhile, sources said that three cops who sustained bullet injuries in the state yesterday are currently on ventilator support.
The authorities clamped a curfew in Nuh district on Tuesday after widespread violence claimed more lives.
The state home minister Anil Vij on Tuesday informed that the Indian Air Force has been kept on standby to undertake airlift operations, if needed. Vij also said that extra forces have been deployed in Nuh to contain the mayhem.
The clashes at Nuh, which went on for around three hours, triggered attacks by mob in parts of Palwal, Faridabad and Gurgaon of the state. The most severe attacks were reported in the city’s southern areas as members of one community targeted houses and businesses of another in Sohna in a fierce outbreak of violence that saw at least 16 vehicles, mostly in Sohna and Nuh, being burnt while stone-pelting mobs dared the police to stop them.
Following the attacks, hundreds of families fled Gurgaon's Sohna, heading for safer places.
The Haryana government, had earlier on Monday, clamped down prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrpC in Nuh and Gurgaon. Later in the evening, the Centre dispatched 20 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) to the state in response to its request for assistance.
It was announced late on Monday that all schools in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Palwal have been ordered to remain closed on Tuesday.
The backdrop to the entire fiasco started with flaring up of communal tension at Nuh chowk after a religious procession by Brij Mandal Jalabhishek Yatra, organised by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Matrishakti Durgavahini, reached there after having been flagged off from Gurgaon’s Civil Lines by BJP district president Gargi Kakkar.
As rumours spread, Gurgaon Police Commissioner clarified that a report going viral on some social media channels, saying, 'Gurgaon on high alert: At least a dozen cops have been shot, including 5 inspectors and a DSP, all admitted in Medanta. Few others couldn't make it. The entire Ggn is on high alert with thousands of cops brought from other districts. Gurgaon and Faridabad residents are requested not to venture out tonight. The situation is escalating rapidly,' is false.
He declared the above report to be false and mischievous, adding that the situation in Gurgaon is now peaceful and under control.
He also declared that one inspector did sustain gunshot injuries yesterday, but the incident had occurred in Nuh, where he had been sent to control the situation, along with other officers from Gurgaon.
Meanwhile, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar is holding a meeting with minister Anil Vij and other officials over Nuh Violence, which is said to be under way at his residence on Tuesday.
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