Even as the Muzaffarnagar police made a breakthrough in the triple murder case by arresting four suspects on Friday, a mahapanchayat organized in a Muzaffarnagar village to discuss the case, confirmed the extreme religious polarization in the region that was rocked by communal violence last year.

Bahadurpur village and the villages in its vicinity in Muzaffarnagar turned tense last week after three of its residents were murdered when they were returning from work.

In an explicit religious tone, Virender Singh, the convenor of the mahapanchayat said, “Muslims who killed the three labourers be brought to book and the administration should not try to save any of them.”

“These three victims were killed in retaliation of the last year’s communal riots. The manner in which the three victims were killed, can be done only be a particular group. A Hindu cannot kill anybody like this.”

The mahapanchayat failed to attract a decent turnout apparently because the three murdered men belong to the Jatav, Valmiki (both Dalit) and Kashyap communities.

The allegations made by the participants of the mahapanchayat are contrary to the version of the local police. Moreover, the tense situation might further deteriorate as all the four arrested by the police, are Muslim residents of the neighbouring Bilaspur village.

The mahapanchayat on the murder of three labourers comes ahead of the by-polls in the nearby Assembly Constituency of Kairana on October 15.

Rohitas Singh, in-charge of the Sikhera police station under which Bahadurpur falls, however, disagreed with the views of the mahapanchayat.

“The suspects — Gulfam, Mohsin, Anees and Yunus — are plain criminals and they did not see if they were killing Hindu or Muslims,” he said.

“During our preliminary investigation we have found that they have also looted and harmed Muslims too in the past,” he emphasised.

“The suspects are professional junk dealers who have also been involved in some serious criminal activities in the past. They wanted to loot these labourers returning late from work. We have found the cycle of victims, stolen from them,” said Mr. Singh.