According to police sources, conflicts between Hindus and Muslims on Monday in India’s Haryana state, which borders the capital New Delhi, resulted in at least five fatalities, including two police officers.
Around 50 miles from New Delhi, in the Muslim-dominated Nuh area, a Hindu ceremonial procession was disrupted when it passed through.
“The procession was meant to move from one temple to another but clashes broke out between two groups on the way, which resulted in the death of four people,” Krishan Kumar, a spokesman for the Nuh police, told Reuters.
Two of the dead, according to him, were home guard volunteers who aid police in quelling public disturbances.
He stated that the clashes also resulted in 10 more police officers being hurt.
On Monday night, however, the unrest spread to the nearby city of Gurugram, where a mosque was set on fire at around midnight, leaving one person dead and another injured.
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A business centre for the nation, Gurugram, formerly known as Gurgaon, shares a border with New Delhi and is home to a number of major corporations.
Following some automobile fires on Monday night, prohibition orders had already been issued for the area, and Tuesday was designated as a closed day for schools and universities.
The assailants who set the mosque on fire have been identified, and several of them have been apprehended, according to a statement released by Gurgaon Police early on Tuesday. Security around houses of worship has also been reinforced, the statement added.
Manohar Lal Khattar, the chief minister of Haryana, denounced the incident in Nuh, where curfew restrictions have been put in place and the internet has been cut off, in a message on messaging service X, formerly known as Twitter.