Several shops and two police vehicles were set on fire.
Twenty one people have been arrested in Uttar Pradesh's Mainpuri district for the violence that erupted yesterday after an angry mob went on the rampage allegedly over rumours of cow slaughter. Several shops and two police vehicles were set on fire.
Mainpuri is located over 200 kilometres from the state capital Lucknow and 100 kilometres from Agra. According to the District Magistrate, violence started after a cow's carcass was found near a field at a village here,
triggering rumours that it was slaughtered. "But when a post-mortem was conducted, the rumours 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 kilometres from Mainpuri, a 52-year-old man was killed by a mob allegedly after rumours 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.