In an apparent mix-up, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat termed the deaths of two men from his state in a road accident in Gurgaon murder and asked his Haryana counterpart to take action.
An official release quoting the chief minister on Tuesday night said the two youths from Uttarakhand were murdered and another injured in Haryana's Gurgaon.
The statement said he phoned Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who assured the culprits will be arrested soon.
The statement in Hindi referred to the incident as hatya or murder, a term which was dropped from the tweet by the chief minister later at night. However, the tweet did not call the "incident" a road accident.
The CM’s secretariat found out later that the deaths had occurred in a road mishap.
When contacted, an official at the CM’s secretariat said the confusion was created by social media.
"The chief minister's reaction was based on what was coming on social media and the local news channels initially. The reports later said they had died in a mishap, chief minister's media coordinator Darshan Singh Rawat said.
Only a probe can reveal the actual situation. Even the vehicle involved in the incident has not been found. It can also be a case of deliberate hit-and-run," he added.
"On the basis of what was coming on social media, prima facie it appeared to be a case of murder," he said.
Meanwhile, Gurgaon police Wednesday said the accident occurred in the early hours of Monday near a toll plaza.
A speeding truck hit three men, all from Uttarakhand, killing two of them on the spot, police said. The third victim, a cook, is in the hospital with a fractured leg, an official said. The police have registered a case and are trying to trace the driver.