The Haryana administration on Monday did not allow Hindutva groups led by Vishwa Hindu Parishad to take out a religious procession in violence-hit Nuh district and instead asked locals to offer prayers in temples amid heavy police deployment on the last Monday of the holy month of Shravan.

Sources said the BJP-ruled Haryana had asked police to strictly maintain law and order to avoid any untoward incidents ahead of the G20 summit in Delhi and Gurgaon.

Nuh is barely 90km away from the capital.

The Haryana police were earlier accused of complicity in allowing a religious procession by activists of the Bajrang Dal and the VHP on July 31 that led to communal violence in Nuh in which six people, including a cleric and two home guards, were killed.

“It is an open secret that if the administration wants, no violence will ever take place. What we witnessed in Nuh today is the rule of law, which was surprisingly missing when the violence had broken out last month,” a former Haryana director-general of police told The Telegraph.

The administration, he said, was strict this time and a strong message was sent that those violating the law would be dealt with iron hands.

"The administration swung into action this time as there was clear instruction from the top leadership that they did not want a repeat of what happened on July 31. Any violence would have caused serious damage to the reputation ahead of the G20 meet,” he said.

A road wears a deserted look in view of Sarv Jatiya Hindu Mahapanchayat's call for a 'shobha yatra', at Ghaseda in Nuh district on Monday. PTI photo

On Sunday, the VHP had announced that a religious procession would be taken out in Nuh district on Monday.

A Haryana police official on Monday said everything passed off peacefully as the entire area was turned into a fortress ahead of the proposed rally.

Outsiders were barred from entering Nuh, with security personnel being deployed at all entry points of the district. According to officials, 1,900 Haryana police personnel and 24 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed to keep a strict vigil. Multiple layers of barricades had been erected by the police and anti-riot vehicles and drones were also pressed into service.

According to officials, the vehicle of Hindu seer Jagatguru Paramhans Acharya from Ayodhya was stopped at one of the entry points.

The police allowed 15 seers and leaders of some Hindutva outfits to visit the Shiv temple in Nalhar to perform rituals, After offering prayers, the group, accompanied by some locals and cops, left for another temple in the area.

Bajrang Dal’s Gurgaon district convener Praveen Hindustani told PTI that a limited number of people took part in the "yatra". Hindu rights leader Kulbhushan Bhardwaj claimed that Hindu leaders have been put under house arrest by the Haryana government.

“This is an attack on the Hindu faith. By putting Hindu leaders under house arrest, the Haryana government has reminded them of the reign of the Mughals,” he said.

Haryana home minister Anil Vij said the situation in Nuh was under control and people performed rituals at temples in keeping with the customs.

“Everything is under control. We have deployed sufficient police force,” he said.