Officials in the western city of Udaipur, Rajasthan, have announced a curfew and blocked internet access after videos of the incident went viral on social media, sparking widespread outrage across the country.
One video shows two men attacking the victim. In another, two Muslim men appear to have confessed to the crime and claimed to have “beheaded” a Hindu. However, state police told CNN on Wednesday that the victim had deep cuts all over his body, including slit wounds in his neck, but was not beheaded.
The Indian Interior Ministry said on Wednesday that it had ordered the National Investigation Agency – the country’s main anti-terrorism working group – to investigate the case.
“The involvement of any organization and international relations will be carefully investigated,” Twitter said.
The two suspects allegedly killed the victim, a tailor, after a post appeared on his social media account in favor of the now-removed national spokesman of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata (BJP) party, Nupur Sharma, who made derogatory comments about the Islamic Prophet Mohammed, Rajasthan Police Officer Hawa Singh Gumaria told CNN on Wednesday.
The victim was arrested on June 12th for allegedly “inciting religious sentiment” and has since been released on bail, Gumaria said.
The two suspects have been arrested and an investigation is underway, State Secretary Ashok Gelot wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
State officials responded by sending more than 600 police officers to the area.
“This incident is very embarrassing,” Gumaria told a news conference on Tuesday, before urging the public not to watch the videos and calling for calm.
“There will be tension. There is always after such an incident, but everything is under control,” he said.
The assassination re-ignited the already volatile situation between India’s Hindu majority and its minority Muslim community, which makes up about 14% of the country’s 1.3 billion people.
Asadudin Owaisi, an MP and president of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen political party, condemned the killing and called for “the strictest possible action” against the suspects.
“There can be no excuse for this,” he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “The consistent position of our party is to oppose such violence. No one can take the law into their own hands.”
Opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said he was “deeply shocked” by the incident.
“Brutality in the name of religion cannot be tolerated,” he wrote on Twitter. “We must unite to defeat hatred. I call on everyone to maintain peace and brotherhood.”
Hindu-Muslim tensions have remained constant throughout India’s modern history, sometimes erupting in violence, but analysts and activists say relations have deteriorated since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP came to power with a Hindu nationalist agenda in 2014.
Since then, the ruling party has been repeatedly accused by human rights groups, activists and opposition parties of inciting anti-Muslim sentiment.
The BJP said in a statement on its website earlier this month that the party respects all religions. “The BJP strongly condemns the insult of all religious figures of any religion,” it said.
Earlier this month, India tried to control its diplomatic implications as at least 15 Muslim-majority countries condemned Sharma’s remarks about the Prophet Muhammad. The incident has sparked unrest among India’s key Arab trading partners and calls from across the Persian Gulf for a boycott of Indian goods.
Protests against her comments have been deadly in India after two Muslim boys were killed in the eastern state of Jharkhand this month, and an investigation is underway to find out who fired the fatal bullets. The BJP stopped Sharma, and the Indian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying its comments “should not in any way reflect the views of the Indian government.”
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