Tension gripped Jaora town in Madhya Pradesh's Ratlam district on Friday after body parts of a bovine animal were found thrown on the premises of a local temple, following which the police launched a probe and arrested two men, officials said.

Hindu outfits staged a protest over the incident that occurred at the Jaagnath Mahadev temple in the town in the wee hours of Friday, and the police lobbed teargas shells and lathi-charged the protesters to bring the situation under control, eyewitnesses said.

Two persons, identified as Salman Mevati (24) and Shaqir Qureshi (19), were arrested on the charge of throwing the bovine animal's body parts on the temple premises and the illegal portions of their houses were pulled down, according to police.

"Two bike-borne miscreants threw the body parts of a bovine animal on the temple premises, following which the police traced and arrested them for hurting the religious sentiments and under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)," Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Manoj Kumar Singh told reporters.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav directed the police and administration to take stern measures against those responsible for the incident and also appealed for peace, he said.

"An attempt was made to disrupt the harmony in the town, but timely measures prevented the situation from flaring up," Singh said.

Enraged over the incident, Hindu outfits gave a call for Jaora bandh and staged a road-blockade on a four-lane road.

Police arrested the two miscreants and along with the civic authorities, demolished illegal portions of their houses later. Others involved in the incident will also be arrested, Ratlam's Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Rakesh Khakha said.

One Gaurav Puri Goswami lodged a complaint in this regard. He told the police that between 2 am and 3 am, some unidentified person threw the bovine animal's body parts on the premises of the temple, which hurt the religious sentiments of Hindus, the police said in a statement.

The police said that they have beefed up security in the town in view of the incident.

Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari said on X, "The incident committed by anti-social elements in Jaora is condemnable. I demand a quick and thorough investigation of this extremely objectionable act. I also appeal to the state government to give harsh punishment to the culprits, who spread animosity in the society." Local BJP MP Sudhir Gupta also condemned the incident and directed the administration and police officials to take stern measures against the accused persons.

The Jaora MLA Rajendra Pandey also termed the incident as unfortunate and demanded strict action against the accused persons.

Jaora town's Shahar Qazi Hafiz Bhuru appealed to the people through a letter to maintain peace and harmony in the town.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident near the Jaora town a truck loaded with 26 cattle overturned near Bhuteda toll booth on Friday evening resulting in the death of 14 bovines, the official said.

When the protesting Hindu activists came to know about it, they rushed to the spot and set afire the truck, eyewitnesses said.

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