Thackeray appealed that the killing of sadhus in Bulandshahr should not be given a "religious colour."
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray called up Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday and expressed concern over the killing of two priests in Bulandshahr district.
Two sadhus of a Shiva temple in Bulandshahr - identified as Jagdish (55) and Shersingh (45) of Pagauna village - were found murdered on Tuesday morning, police said. A man of the same village identified as Murari alias Raju who had an argument with the two over an alleged theft has been arrested by the police.
In a phone call with Adityanath, Thackeray expressed concern over the "inhumane killing" of two sadhus in Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh and expressed solidarity with the state against such inhumane acts, the office of Maharashtra CM said.
Thackeray appealed that the incident should not be given a "religious colour."
"He expressed the expectation that you (Yogi Adityanath) will do the same and punish the culprits severely in the same way that we have taken strict legal action in such incidents. But Chief Minister Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray has appealed that no one should give a religious colour to these incidents," Thackeray's office said in a tweet.
Earlier, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said the killing of priests in Uttar Pradesh should not be communalised like the Palghar incident in Maharashtra
In Maharashtra's Palghar, a mob lynched three men - two seers and their driver - on April 16 when they were going from Mumbai in a car towards Surat in Gujarat to attend a funeral. According to reports, their vehicle was stopped near a village in Palghar district where the three were dragged out of the car and beaten to death with sticks by a mob on suspicion that they were child-lifters.
The incident was given a communal colour with many on social media indulging in fake news that the accused were liked to another community. The police released the name of those arrested with state Home Minister Anil Deshmukh asserting that both the attackers and victims were from the same community.
BJP leaders in Maharashtra, including former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, had attacked the Uddhav government for failing to stop the killing.
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