Indian police have made new arrests over the murder of a Hindu tailor in Rajasthan, which has caused tensions between the Hindu majority and Muslim minority and a clampdown on protests and the internet to prevent them from escalating.
Three senior police officials said on Saturday that two Muslim men based in Rajasthan were being held for planning Teli's murder in his shop in Udaipur, a popular tourist destination. Two other Muslim men were already under arrest.
Prafulla Kumar, a senior police official in Udaipur, said we have now arrested the two masterminds, and previously had arrested two men who committed the heinous crime.
The murder was filmed and posted online, allegedly as a response to the victim's support for a politician's derogatory remarks. The victim, Kanhaiya Lal Teli, had allegedly made a social media post supporting Nupur Sharma, a former spokesperson for the party of Narendra Modi, the prime minister who made anti-Islam comments in May.
Internet services were being restored gradually and security forces were on alert, according to Kumar.
An angry mob including some lawyers slapped and shoved the four accused in the murder case when they were presented to a trial court on Saturday.
Judges from the supreme court said on Friday that Sharma had to apologise to the whole nation after her remarks intensified religious fault lines in India, angered Islamic nations and triggered diplomatic strains.
Local media reported on June 21 that a chemist was stabbed to death in western Maharashtra for allegedly supporting the comments made by Sharma on social media.
Five people were arrested in connection with the murder of the chemist, and a search is on the way to trace the prime accused, Aarti Singh, a chief regional police official, was quoted by local media as saying.
In Afghanistan, the militant group Islamic State claimed last month an attack on a Sikh temple that killed at least two people and injured seven in response to insults directed at Prophet Mohammad in India.
The police in New Delhi arrested journalist Mohammed Zubair, a vocal critic of the Modi government who had helped draw attention to Sharma's remarks through his fact-checking website Alt News and social media.
Zubair was rejected on Saturday and a local court sentenced him to two weeks custody, a court order said.
The National Investigative Agency NIA India's top anti-terrorism agency said it was carrying out a probe into Teli's killing.
A senior NIA official in New Delhi said agents were questioning Muslims linked to the four accused in Udaipur to identify whether they had links with militant networks.
Muslims living about 3 km from the tailor's shop said they were nervous and feared a social and economic boycott by powerful Hindus residing in Udaipur.
Mohammad Farukh, a Muslim-dominated area of the city, said that what has been done is barbaric, but the community should not be held responsible for the deed of two people.