Tension flared up over youth’s death

Curfew clamped in Haryana’s Punhana town to curb any flare-up between two communities following the killing of a youth continued for the second day on Sunday, police said.

Mewat district authorities had on Saturday imposed curfew as a precautionary measure in Punhana, some 95 km from Gurgaon. 

Tension escalated in the Meo-dominated region after the 22-year-old youth, Wajid, was found dead Friday night with bullet injuries. Wajid, a resident of Nakanpur area of Punhana, was shot in the head, police said. His body was buried on Saturday after post-mortem examination. Authorities on Sunday relaxed the curfew from 10 am to 7 pm but the majority of shops remained closed.

 No untoward incident was reported during this period. Meanwhile, six police complaints – three each from the Meo (Muslim) and the Hindu communities – related to conflicts and clashes were lodged at Punhana police station.

Police said the death of Wajid was due to personal rivalry, since it was reported a day after clashes between two communities supporting the Indian National Lok Dal and the Bharatiya Janta Party on voting day April 10.

Mewat Deputy Commissioner R C Verma has also said the murder had nothing to with the clashes. Police have registered a separate complaint over Wajid's murder, in which nine people, including three Meos, have been named.

The nine – Raju, Rajkumar, Nigam, Ravi, Ratan Lal, Vinod, Islamuddin, Jubair Khan and Aslam – have been accused of murder. However, no one has been arrested so far.

Two companies of Central Reserve Police Force and Indo-Tibetan Border Police have been deployed in the area, while the army has been placed on stand-by, Verma said.Meanwhile, BJP candidate from Gurgaon Rao Inderjeet Singh has demanded that Mewat deputy commissioner Verma and Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar Dhawan be transferred out for their alleged negligence in the case.