India News | Situation Under Control in Violence-hit Hazaribag, Internet Services Restored: Senior Cop

Hazaribag, Feb 8 (PTI) Tension prevailed in Jharkhand's Hazaribag on Tuesday, where violence had broken out after a 17-year-old boy was killed in clashes between two communities, but the situation in the district was largely under control, a senior police officer said.

Internet services, debarred on Monday to prevent rumour-mongering, have been restored in the district and its adjoining places, he said.

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Rupesh Kumar Pandey, the only son of a truck driver here, died after allegedly facing assault on Sunday evening at Kariyadpur village in Barhi police station area.

Four persons arrested in connection with Sunday's clashes were produced before court of the chief judicial magistrate, which sent them to Hazaribag Central Jail.

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Shops and establishments in the area that had downed shutters on Monday in protest against the incident resumed operations in the afternoon on the district administration's assurances of a fair probe and adequate compensation for the victim's family, Superintendent of Police Manoj Ratan Chothe said.

Not many people were seen venturing out in Kariyadpur village, where an uneasy calm was palpable throughout the day.

"The situation is under control and normalcy is being restored. Internet services have been reinstated in Hazaribag and adjoining districts of Koderma, Chatra, Ramgarh and Giridih, post permission from the state home department," Chothe said.

An irate mob had torched six vehicles in the district on Monday, demanding justice for the 17-year-old.

Pandey's relatives have sought action under the provisions of the Prevention of Mob Violence and Mob Lynching Bill, 2021.

The SP, however, maintained that it was not a case of mob lynching.

He said that the clash was a fallout of an "old rivalry" and no communal ill-will was involved in it.

Some people had been trying to link the incident with Sunday's idol immersion ceremony of Goddess Saraswati, but the two are not connected, Chothe asserted.

An FIR lodged in the case on a complaint by the cousin of the deceased has named 27 people as accused, besides 100 unknown individuals.

Both the SP and Hazaribag Deputy Commissioner Aditya Kumar Anand, who had been camping at the site of the clashes since Sunday evening, returned to the district headquarters in the morning.

Meanwhile, the opposition BJP in the state claimed that the matter pertained to mob lynching, and the party will raise the issue in the Budget Session of the Assembly later this month.

Jharkhand BJP president and MP Deepak Prakash said such incidents have increased manifold under the current Hemant Soren regime.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)