MUMBAY, June 29 (Reuters) – Fearing outbreaks of religious violence, police in the Indian state of Rajasthan banned public gatherings and shut down Internet services a day after two Muslims posted a video claiming responsibility for the killing of a Hindu tailor in Udaipur.
Two suspects were questioned by federal investigators on Wednesday as state police guarded against any unrest in the northwestern state.
“We have strict orders to prevent any form of protest or demonstration planned to condemn the murder,” Hawa Singh Gumaria told a Reuters senior police officer in Rajasthan, adding that the crime sent “shock waves into the country.”
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Waving a meat knife, two bearded men said in the video that they were taking revenge for an insult to the Prophet Muhammad caused by the victim.
They also hinted at Nupur Sharma, a former spokesman for the ruling Hindu nationalist party Bharatiya Janata (BJP), whose remarks about the Prophet earlier this month sparked domestic and international outrage.
Indian Interior Minister Amit Shah said in a tweet that federal police have launched an investigation into the “brutal murder” of Kanhai Lal Telly, citing the victim’s full name.
“The involvement of any organization and international relations will be carefully investigated,” Shah said.
Two assailants cut Telli’s head and throat in an attack while the tailor was taking measurements, according to Bhavarlal Toda, a city administrator in Udaipur.
According to Toda, the tailor was detained for posting on social media in support of the BJP spokeswoman, who was traced to his mobile phone, and that after his release, Telly told police on June 15 that he was threatened by a group.
“The terrorists executed my father in the most shocking way, the country must stand with our family to seek justice,” the victim’s son Iash told Reuters after his father’s body was cremated on Wednesday.
He said the perpetrators should be tried and sentenced to death, and denied that his father had made any remarks that would be offensive to other religions.
Politicians and prominent Islamic preachers have condemned the killing.
People carry the body of a Hindu for his cremation, a day after two Muslims posted a video claiming responsibility for his murder in Udaipur, northwestern Rajasthan, India, June 29, 2022. REUTERS / Stringer
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“The incident shocked followers of Islam, the heinous act committed by two men is absolutely non-Islamic,” said Maulana Ahmed Sidiki, a Muslim cleric based in Udaipur.
THREAT TO FASHION
Authorities said they had shut down Internet services in several parts of Rajasthan to prevent the video shared by the accused.
“The mood is tense and almost all the shops are closed today,” Toda said. The city of about half a million people is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the desert state and is famous for its luxury hotels, including the famous Lake Taj Palace.
In another video posted online, one of the attackers also threatened Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying their blade would also find him.
India has a horrific history of religious violence and thousands have been killed since the country became independent from British colonial rule in 1947.
Modi’s drive for the “Hindus First” program after coming to power in 2014 has fueled tensions in a country where Muslims make up about 13 percent of its 1.4 billion people.
Earlier this month, the BJP removed Sharma from the party and fired another employee, but the furor did not subside.
Prime Minister Modi did not comment on the incident in Udaipur. But former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who belongs to the BJP, blamed the Congress Party, which now runs the country, for the “common madness and violence” that emerged there.
Raje said that “such actions can happen because the state government provides tacit support to criminals.”
While Congress upheld secular values in post-independence India, the BJP identified it as a pro-Muslim party to distract Hindus from its main opposition.
Rajasthan, with a population of about 69 million, is just one of two Indian states where Congress has a majority in the state legislature and is due to hold elections next year.
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Report by Rupam Jane; Edited by Simon Cameron-Moore
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