A brutal murder caught on camera stokes religious tensions in India

India restricts sugar exports 1:08

New Delhi (CNN) --

Religious tensions are running high in India following the killing of a Hindu man allegedly by two Muslim assailants, as authorities try to prevent video of the brutal attack from circulating online.

Authorities in the western city of Udaipur in Rajasthan state announced a curfew and blocked internet access after videos of the incident went viral on social media, sparking massive outrage across the country.

In a video, two men are seen starting to attack the victim.

In another, two Muslim men appear to confess to the crime and claim to have "beheaded" the Hindu man.

However, state police told CNN on Wednesday that the victim had deep cuts all over his body, including cuts to his neck, but that he had not been decapitated.

Smoke rises from a bonfire as tensions rise following the killing of a Hindu man in Udaipur, Rajasthan, western India, on June 28.

India's home ministry said on Wednesday it had ordered the National Investigation Agency, the country's main anti-terrorism task force, to investigate the case.

"Involvement of any organization and international links will be thoroughly investigated," he said on Twitter.

The two suspects allegedly killed the victim, a tailor, after a post appeared on his social media account in favor of the now-suspended national spokesperson for India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Nupur Sharma, who made derogatory comments about Islam's prophet Muhammad, Hawa Singh Ghumaria, an official with the Rajasthan Police, told CNN on Wednesday.

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The victim was arrested on June 12 for alleged "exacerbation of religious sentiments" and released on bail, Ghumaria said.

The two suspects have been detained and an investigation is ongoing, state chief minister Ashok Gehlot wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

State authorities have responded by deploying more than 600 police officers to the area.

"This incident is very unfortunate," Ghumaria told a news conference on Tuesday, before urging the public not to watch the videos and calling for calm.

"There will be tension. There always is after an incident like this, but everything is under control," he said.

The moment a Muslim neighborhood is demolished in India 0:58

The killing has rekindled the fire in an already volatile situation between India's Hindu majority and its Muslim minority community, which makes up about 14% of the country's 1.3 billion people.

Asaduddin Owaisi, a lawmaker and chairman of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen political party, condemned the killing and demanded the "strictest possible action" against the suspects.

"There can be no justification for it," he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

"Our party's consistent position is to oppose this type of violence. No one can take justice into their own hands."

The leader of the opposition Indian National Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, said he was "deeply shocked" by the incident.

"Brutality in the name of religion cannot be tolerated," he wrote on Twitter.

"We have to unite to defeat hate. I call on everyone to please keep the peace and brotherhood."

Tensions between Hindus and Muslims have been a constant throughout India's modern history, occasionally erupting into violence, but analysts and activists say relations have worsened since Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his BJP party , rose to power on a Hindu nationalist platform in 2014.

Since then, the ruling party has been repeatedly accused by rights groups, activists and opposition parties of stoking anti-Muslim sentiment.

The BJP said in a statement on its website earlier this month that the party respected all religions.

"The BJP strongly denounces insults to religious personalities of any religion," he said.

Earlier this month, India scrambled to contain the diplomatic fallout when at least 15 Muslim-majority countries condemned Sharma's comments about the Prophet Muhammad.

The incident sparked an uproar among India's major Arab trading partners and calls across the Persian Gulf to boycott Indian goods.

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Protests over his comments turned deadly in India after two Muslim children were killed in the eastern state of Jharkhand this month, with an investigation underway to determine who fired the deadly bullets.

Sharma was suspended by the BJP, and the Indian Foreign Ministry issued a statement stating that his comments "do not in any way reflect the views of the Government of India".

HomicideInterreligious violence