Nuh Violence: How It All Started?

The Haryana government has said that it has filed 44 FIRs and arrested 116 people in connection with the communal violence that broke out on Monday afternoon.

To bring the situation under control, mobile internet services were suspended in Nuh and Faridabad on Wednesday. Also, the authorities imposed Section 144 in the adjoining districts, while the educational institutes remained shut.

The repercussions of Monday's communal clash in Haryana's Nuh then extended to sector 70 in Gurugram, situated less than 20 km from the national capital, New Delhi. On Tuesday night, a shop and several shanties near a residential complex were engulfed in flames.

How it all started?

• A religious procession is attacked as a mob tried to stop a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession, pelting stones and setting cars on fire. Two home guards were killed and many others, including several policemen, were injured in the incident.

• According to some claims, the trigger for the violence was an objectionable video posted on social media in Ballabhgarh. The cops have now booked Dinesh Bharti, the leader of the right-wing Jai Bharat Mata Vahini for allegedly posting the said video.

• Reports claim that Monu Manesar, a well-known cow vigilante linked to the Bajrang Dal, had previously released video messages announcing his intention to join the yatra. However, he refrained from participating upon the advice of the VHP, as they were concerned that his presence might escalate tensions. Nonetheless, a rumour about his presence became the catalyst for the outbreak of violence.

• The tension further escalated after an armed mob attacked a mosque and killed a 23-year-old man sleeping inside while one was grievously injured in Gurugram.

• The group of 100 people targeted the Anjuman Masjid in Gurugram's sector 57. Police said the slogan-shouting mob pelted stones and opened fire at the four people inside the mosque. The attackers also fired upon policemen who had reached the mosque, assistant sub-inspector Inder Singh said in his report. Police rescued two men as the mob set fire to the mosque.

• Naib Imam Mohammed Saad and Khurshid Alam were seriously injured. Saad, 26, a Bihar native, was declared dead at the hospital. Police have lodged an FIR, naming 10 attackers. Reports said five people were rounded up.

• According to the police, on Tuesday afternoon, a group of individuals chanting Jai Shri Ram slogans set fire to a roadside eatery in Gurugram's Badshahpur. In addition, some shops in the nearby market were also vandalized during the incident.

• Similarly, in Pataudi Chowk, another mob targeted and vandalized five meat shops. The rioters fled the scene upon the arrival of the police.