A 28-year-old man named Loten Nishad from Bakshi Morha village of Prayagraj district in Uttar Pradesh was killed by a group of neighbours on 5 April.

On the statement of his brother Birju and preliminary investigation, the police booked six to seven unidentified and 10 identified accused, namely Sadiq, Sebu, Zakir, Noor Akhtar, Naushad (two accused are named Naushad), Shadaab, Farooq, Naushad and Farhan.

As per Birju and other eye-witnesses, the Muslim men killed Loten in revenge after a member of the Nishad community commented that leaders of Muslim organisation ‘Tablighi Jamaat’ have spread Covid-19 virus across India.

The communal killing created tension in the area and heavy police force had to be deployed. On the directions of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the accused have been booked under National Security Act.

The news was picked up by a number of publications. Several journalists posted the news on social media, along with videos of the gory killing.

The Twitter account of Prayagraj Police soon went on a spree responding to such journalists.

The apologists of minority extremism, however, are misinterpreting the police’s response and misleading their followers into believing that the murder had no communal motive.

Here’s how it unfolded:

When the local media first broke the news, the Prayagraj Police Twitter handle, @prayagraj_pol, responded to the verified Twitter handle of IS Range Prayagraj saying that the case is being investigated by police officials.