A 33-year-old man was killed and six other injured after an altercation over a circulated WhatsApp message containing an "objectionable" caricature of Sonia Gandhi in Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur district.
Umesh Verma succumbed to his injuries at a hospital, according to area city Superintendent of Police Inderjeet Balsavar.
The fight occurred between a group led by advocate Prashant Nayak and another led by Congress municipal councillor Jatin Raj, after Nayak reportedly circulated a photo in a WhatsApp group that showed Sonia "washing utensils" with a satirical caption saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi had reduced the Congress president to such a position, Balsavar was quoted as saying by The Quint, citing PTI.
The two groups gathered at Ahimsa Chowk little after noon on Tuesday and a heated argument followed. In the meantime, the police reached the spot and asked them to come to police station to sort out their differences.
There are contradictory accounts of what transpired next.
Although statements by Jatin Raj's group say knives were freely used by the rival group inside the Vijay Nagar Police station where they went to lodge a complaint, CSP Balsavar said that the violence took place when the groups were en route to the police station, according to a FirstPost report.
Animesh, a member of the Congress corporator's group, has demanded that the police release CCTV footage of the incident to bring out the truth.
Balsavar said the police resorted to caning to bring the situation under control, but denied that violence took place inside the police station.
Nayak said people of both groups have been booked and further investigations are on.
