Curfew continues in Haryana town for third day

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

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

Tension escalated in the Meo-dominated region after a 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 Saturday after post-mortem examination.

Authorities Monday did not relax the curfew as several meetings were held between the two communities. On Sunday, it was relaxed from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Six police complaints - three each from the Meo (Muslim) and the Hindu communities - related to conflicts and clashes have been lodged at the 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 (BJP) on voting day April 10.

Bharatiya Janata Party state president Ram Bilas Sharma and Gurgaon candidate and sitting Lok Sabha member Rao Inderjeet Singh visited Punhana Monday.

They wanted to meet the injured people but were not permitted by the administration.

Mewat Deputy Commissioner R.C. Verma also said the murder had nothing to do with the clashes.

Police have registered a separate complaint over Wajid's murder, in which nine people, including three Meos, have been named. 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.

Rao Inderjeet has demanded that the Mewat deputy commissioner and Superintendent of Police Anil Kumar Dhawan be transferred for their alleged negligence in the case.