The Odisha government has imposed curfew indefinitely across Sambalpur town and extended the Internet ban in Sambalpur district by 48 hours till Monday morning, with the area remaining tense following Friday night’s Hanuman Jayanti violence.

Curfew had been imposed on Friday night after arson attacks in various parts of the town. A group of people attacked two men and hacked one of them, Paltu Mirdha, 27, to death while his friend escaped with serious hand injuries.

Sources said 10 to 12 people carrying swords and sticks had hurled bricks at Mirdha and his friend who were riding a motorcycle. As they fell from the bike, they were assaulted.

Sambalpur superintendent of police Battula Gangadhar said: “On Friday night, when the Hanuman Jayanti procession was going on, incidents of arson were reported from seven to eight places. The fire brigade immediately reached each of these places and brought the situation under control. A murder was also reported in the town.”

The Hanuman Jayanti procession had begun amid tight security on Friday evening, with the police deploying drones and khaki-clad men with binoculars on rooftops along the entire route.

Although there were no reports of violence from the areas the procession passed through, arson and stone-throwing were reported from other areas of the town.

“We have imposed an indefinite curfew. We have appealed to people not to come out of their homes except for medical emergencies. Forty-six platoons of police have been deployed to restore normalcy,” Gangadhar said.

All Internet and dataservices will remain suspended in the district till 10am on April 17. Earlier, Internet services had been suspended for 48 hours from April 13 to prevent the spread of inflammatory messages.

After a meeting on Saturday, the district administration relaxed the curfew from 3.30pm to 5.30pm and from 8am to 10am on Sunday to allow people to buy essential commodities.

The town had witnessed violence on Wednesday, too, when members of the Hanuman Samannay Samiti organised a bike rally ahead of Friday’s Hanuman Jayanti celebrations.

Some people allegedly threw stones at the rally participants, who retaliated and later vented their anger on the police. At least 10 police personnel and 20 other people were injured.

Director-general of police Sunil Kumar Bansal flew to Sambalpur town on Saturday with a team of senior officials.

“The overall situation is peaceful. Normalcy will be restored soon. We will take strong action against those involved in violence,” Bansal said.