Mainpuri: Police in Uttar Pradesh have arrested 21 people in connection with Friday’s violence in Mainpuri district.
An angry mob went on the rampage allegedly over rumors of cow slaughter. Several shops and two police vehicles were set on fire.
Mainpuri is more than 200 km southeast of the state capital of Lucknow.
According to the District Magistrate, violence started after a cow’s carcass was found near a field at a village, triggering rumors that it was slaughtered. “But when a post-mortem was conducted, the rumors were found to be false,” he said adding that the situation was under control now.
No one was injured in the violence. The Deputy Superintendent of Police of the area has been suspended.
Two weeks ago in Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri, nearly 300 km northwest of Mainpuri, a 52-year-old man was killed by a mob allegedly after rumors that he had killed a calf and had kept beef in his house.
Mohammed Akhlaq and his 22-year-old son Mohd Danish Saifee were dragged out of their house by around 100 villagers and beaten with bricks. Danish has been in hospital since the attack.
Half an hour before the attack, an announcement was allegedly made at a temple nearby that a calf had been slaughtered, ndtv.com reported.