Four people, including a woman, have been killed in two incidents of violence in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, where communal clashes last month had left nearly 50 dead and 45,000 homeless.
The police say there is no evidence that the killings, which took place on Wednesday, were linked to any communal tension. However, around 600 paramilitary personnel from the state's reserve forces have been sent to the area to prevent any flare-up.
In the first incident, a land dispute between people from two villages, Hussainpur and Mohammedpur, reportedly turned violent and led to the killing of three men. Eight people from Mohammedpur have been arrested.
The villages, two kilometres apart, share agricultural land and have long been fighting over it.
Senior police and district officials are at the spot, trying to prevent the violence from spreading to the neighbouring areas. They say the situation is tense, but under control.
In the second incident, a woman was killed when she and her husband were attacked on their way home from a visit to the doctor near the Hussainpur village. The police say the attackers were unknown to the couple.
Muzaffarnagar is still trying to recover from the riots last month, which erupted in the aftermath of the killing of three men in August - two Jat brothers and one Muslim boy. The violence spiraled as incendiary speeches by politicians and rumours fed the simmering tension between the two communities.
Three BJP MLAs and one BSP legislator were arrested and half a dozen others were booked for inciting the violence, which is being investigated by a one-member judicial commission.
Uttar Pradesh's Akhilesh Yadav government was accused of failing to check the violence and not stepping in to defuse rising tensions when a large gathering of farmers was organised to protest against the killing of the Jat brothers.
But the Mr Yadav has accused the BJP of inciting communal passions to polarise voters ahead of national elections due by May.
In the first incident, a land dispute between people from two villages, Hussainpur and Mohammedpur, reportedly turned violent and led to the killing of three men. Eight people from Mohammedpur have been arrested.The villages, two kilometres apart, share agricultural land and have long been fighting over it.
Senior police and district officials are at the spot, trying to prevent the violence from spreading to the neighbouring areas. They say the situation is tense, but under control.
In the second incident, a woman was killed when she and her husband were attacked on their way home from a visit to the doctor near the Hussainpur village. The police say the attackers were unknown to the couple.
Muzaffarnagar is still trying to recover from the riots last month, which erupted in the aftermath of the killing of three men in August - two Jat brothers and one Muslim boy. The violence spiraled as incendiary speeches by politicians and rumours fed the simmering tension between the two communities.
Three BJP MLAs and one BSP legislator were arrested and half a dozen others were booked for inciting the violence, which is being investigated by a one-member judicial commission.Uttar Pradesh's Akhilesh Yadav government was accused of failing to check the violence and not stepping in to defuse rising tensions when a large gathering of farmers was organised to protest against the killing of the Jat brothers.
But the Mr Yadav has accused the BJP of inciting communal passions to polarise voters ahead of national elections due by May.
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