Two young men died of bullet injuries in Ranchi after clashes on Friday between police and protesters who were demanding the arrest of former BJP spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Navin Jindal for their derogatory comments on Prophet Mohammed.

While Mohammed Mudassar Kaifi, 22, and Mohammed Sahil, 24, died late on Friday night, a third youth, Nadeem Ansari, was in hospital with critical bullet injuries.

Officers said the police had fired in the air and carried out baton-charges to break up stone-throwing mobs during clashes following the afternoon prayers.

The police’s sticks left several youths injured. At least 11 police personnel and officers, including Ranchi senior superintendent of police Surendra Kumar Jha, were injured in stone-throwing.

Internet services have been suspended across Ranchi to stop the circulation of rumours and hate speech. Assemblies of five or more people have been banned on a 2km stretch along the Main Road – the site of Friday’s violence in Ranchi city.

Police sources said a call had been sounded to close shops in Ranchi on Friday, prompting heavy deployment of the force.

After the Friday prayers, a flag-carrying mob began moving towards the Albert Ekka Chowk. When security personnel tried to stop the mob, it began throwing stones, injuring several personnel and prompting a baton-charge and firing in the air, the sources said.

Chief minister Hemant Soren has appealed for peace and formed a two-member team to probe the violence and report within a week.

“We are passing through testing times, which have been created in a planned manner. We must be prepared for more such testing times. I appeal to people not to take the law into their own hands,” Soren said.

Jharkhand police spokesperson A.V. Homkar said the ban on assemblies and Internet suspension would continue till the situation improved.

“The last rites of the two deceased youth were completed on Saturday afternoon. The situation is under control,” Homkar, the inspector-general (operations), said.

He said no incidents had been reported from anywhere else in Jharkhand.

Ranchi deputy inspector-general Anish Gupta said an FIR had been lodged and the police were scouring CCTV footage to identify those responsible for the violence.

Shops and offices were closed across Ranchi on Saturday.