LUCKNOW, Sept. 12 -- A 45-year-old utensils trader in Gonda was killed over his objectionable and divisive content on social media, the assailants arrested in the case told the police, officials privy to the investigation said on Friday. The incident has caused a flutter with the Uttar Pradesh fisheries and Nishad party chief Sanjay Nishad, an ally of the BJP, joining the ranks of protesters and pulling up the local authorities.

The murder has taken a caste turn too as the victim, Vinod Kumar Sahni, belonged to the Nishad community, classified among the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), while police said the three arrested accused, including prime accused Shubham Singh, Subhash and Antim, belong to an upper-caste community.

The assailants ...