Tension gripped parts of Jharkhand’s Hazaribag district after a boy was killed during a clash between members of two communities, a senior police officer said on February 7.
Rupesh Kumar Pandey, 17, died after allegedly facing assault on Sunday evening at Kariyadpur village in Barhi police station area of the district, Hazaribag Superintendent of Police Manoj Ratan Chothe said.
Four persons have been arrested for their involvement in the clash, he said.
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Mr. Chothe, however, insisted that the clash was a fallout of an “old rivalry” and no communal interest was involved in it.
“One person was thrashed and another got killed during the fight. Incidentally, both of them belonged to two different communities. The police are looking into the matter,” the SP told PTI.
Given the communally sensitive nature of the district, Internet services have been debarred in the area and some adjoining places for the time being to prevent rumour-mongering, Mr. Chothe said.
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He also gave assurance that the situation at Kariyadpur village was under control.
Some people are trying to link the incident with Sunday’s idol immersion ceremony of Goddess Saraswati, the procession for which was taken out just 30 minutes before the clash broke out, but the two are not connected, the SP maintained.
No complaint has been filed by the family of the deceased so far, Mr. Chothe said, adding that adequate forces have been deployed in the area to keep a check on untoward activities, if any.