The murder of a 15-year-old boy inflamed communal tension in Meerut Friday, but the administration rushed in just in time to prevent it from spiralling into destructive violence.

Karan Kaushik, a class XI student, was killed allegedly by Muslim youth Thursday night. He had gone to a cybercafé near his home in Subhash Nagar, and when he did return till late in the night, his family reported him missing to the police at Civil Lines. Not long after, the police detained Salman and Shoaib, who were named in the complaint as suspects, for questioning. They confessed.

The two men told the police they had killed Karan with a shovel after an altercation over a "deal" on a mobile phone, and dumped his body in a pre-dug grave in the local graveyard. The police exhumed the body and sent it for post mortem.

Soon as news of the killing spread, panic set in and half an hour later, Meerut was a ghost town of shuttered markets and deserted streets. Sensing trouble, the administration also closed colleges and schools.

In the inner city, however, the communal passions ran high. Hundreds of Hindus gathered in the Subhash Nagar lane where the boy lived with his grandparents. In reaction to this, hundreds of Muslims gathered in Hashimpur Colony, and soon members of the two communities were shouting slogans and throwing bricks at each other, leaving several people injured.

The administration then rushed in. SSP Deepak Kumar persuaded the people who had gathered for the boy's cremation  and were shouting slogans such as "Aadmi ke Badle Aadmi"  to remain clam.

Then, the army, which has been stationed in Meerut since communal tension became palpable some days ago, carried out a flag march in the sensitive areas.

"The situation has been brought under control. We have deployed adequate police and paramilitary forces in the entire town to ensure peace is maintained," Kumar said.

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