A young deputy imam who was seen in a video praying for Hindu-Muslim amity was killed after a mosque was set ablaze on Tuesday in a Gurgaon suburb known as Millennium City, barely an hour’s drive from the Prime Minister’s residence in the capital.

In the video shared by a family member, Maulana Hafiz Saad, 19, was seen reciting a prayer.

“Hindu-Muslim baith ke khaye thaali mei/
Aisa Hindustan bana de ya Allah.”

(Where Hindus and Muslims break bread on the same plate, Make such an India, O Allah.)

Maulana Saad was the deputy imam of the Anjuman Jama Masjid located at Sector 57 in Gurgaon, one of the fastest-growing corporate hubs in the country and home to swanky offices of several multinational companies, in BJP-governed Haryana.

He hailed from Sitamarhi in Bihar and had joined the mosque six months ago, police said.

Maulana Hafiz Saad, who was killed after a Gurgaon mosque was set ablaze The Telegraph

The mosque came under attack a day after communal violence broke out in Nuh district of Haryana. Four persons, including two home guards, were killed and several injured on Monday during clashes that erupted when the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) took out a procession in the area.

“A group of 45 to 50 miscreants resorted to firing and arson at the Anjuman Jama Masjid in the early hours of Tuesday, which led to the death of one person,” Nitish Aggarwal, deputy commissioner of police, Gurgaon, told reporters.

Some suspects have been arrested in connection with the incident and an investigation is underway, he said.

Fresh violence erupted in Badshahpur in Gurgaon on Tuesday night as several stores, including biryani and meat shops, were set on fire. The police said the attackers, numbering around 200 men, came on motorcycles and SUVs and raided the main market of Badshahpur.

“How is it possible that 200 people assembled here despite the imposition of Section 144?” asked a Muslim shop owner whose shop was vandalised. The provision prohibits the gathering of four or more people in a specified area.

A member of the social organisation, the Mewat Vikas Sabha, told this newspaper that several hateful and provocative videos targeting Muslims were circulated two days before the Shobha Yatra organised by the Hindutva groups on Monday.

“It was a planned act with a design to foment communal disturbance in the predominantly Muslim area of Nuh, adjoining Gurgaon. Despite the provocative videos in circulation, the police administration allowed the yatra to enter Mewat (the region in which Nuh falls),” the member of the social organisation said, requesting anonymity.

The marchers shouted abusive slogans against Muslims while the police remained mute spectators, he said.

“Both communities have been staying in Nuh peacefully for several years. Over the past few months, we have witnessed outsiders frequently visiting the area with arms and inciting local youths against Muslims and often shouting religious slurs targeting the minority community,” he added.

The clashes had broken out on Monday in Nuh after the procession passing through the district was allegedly attacked.

Two purported videos of Hindutva groups, including cow vigilantes, were doing the rounds on social media two days before the planned procession.

In one of the videos, cow vigilantes in Haryana’s Faridabad were seen making provocative speeches that dared the police to stop them. In a video showing purported scenes from the procession on Monday, people are seen carrying guns and throwing stones.

Defence analyst Sushant Singh said in a tweet: “What is happening in Mewat is another manifestation of what is happening in Manipur. The state has not collapsed, it is complicit. That explains the continued silence in Manipur.”

“The communal violence in Haryana’s Nuh... is deeply troubling. After Manipur in the Northeast, such an incident in Haryana is not a good sign,” Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted.