Curfew on in Bhaderwah, police deny cow vigilantes behind murder

Curfew continued for the second day on Friday in tension-ridden Bhaderwah town of Jammu and Kashmir's Doda district, even as police denied cow vigilantes were behind the murder of a local resident.

Officials said there would be no relaxation in the curfew yet.

Police said five people have been detained for questioning in connection with the murder but rebutted media reports that 'cow vigilantes' had killed Nayeem Shah when he was transporting livestock early on Thursday.

"Some media channels are wrongly reporting murder of a person in Bhaderwah as incident of an alleged killing by cow vigilantes. Such irresponsible reporting is strongly rebutted as no such information has been confirmed during the investigation so far. Neither the accused are identified nor the motive of killing is known so far.

"Such reporting which has got law and order implications is rebutted."

The Army was called to assist the civil administration maintain law and order as clashes erupted between two groups over the murder.

Apart from the curfew, authorities have also suspended mobile Internet services to prevent spread of inflammatory posts and pictures online.

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who belongs to Bhaderwah, has appealed people to maintain communal harmony.

--IANS

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