Cow slaughtered on Bakri Eid, meat thrown near Narsingh Temple in Hazaribagh

On Saturday, tension reportedly flared up between two communities in the Khapariyawan area of Hazaribag city in Jharkhand after a cow was allegedly slaughtered in a house near Narsingh temple on the occasion of Bakr Eid.

According to locals, they noticed blood flowing from a house in the village and approached the police vehicle which was parked near the temple. On learning about the police, the residents of the house fled the scene. Reportedly, the cops discovered cow meat at the said house and confiscated it. A First Information Report (FIR) was also registered at the Katkamdag police station.

Police attacked; vehicles vandalised near temple

As per reports, the incident of cow slaughter sparked off stone pelting from people belonging to two communities. When the Katkamdag police reached the spot, they were outnumbered and came under a volley of stones. As such, the cops initially failed to bring the situation under control. As per reports, the miscreants set a motorcycle on fire and vandalised several vehicles, adjacent to the Narsingh temple.

Reportedly, a team of Rapid Action Force (RAF) was deployed in the area at around 11 am who then resorted to lathi-charge and tear gas shells to disperse the unruly mob. While the SDPO Kamal Kishore chased the stone pelters with sticks, SDM Megha Bhardwaj tried to pacify the situation and urged people to return back to their homes.

Strict action to be taken for rumour mongering

During the scuffle between the two communities, several people were injured including police in-charge (Sadar) Ganesh Singh and police in-charge (Katkamdag) Dhananjay Kumar Singh. Deputy Commissioner-in-charge Sandeep Kumar Singh, who went to the spot along with RAF, has directed the cops to conduct an investigation into the case and bring the miscreants to justice. Singh has reportedly warned people against rumor-mongering or sharing videos of the stone-pelting incident on social media. Reportedly, attempts are now being made to hold a peace committee meeting to resolve issues between the two communities.