Curfew was relaxed in Muzaffarnagar for two hours on Tuesday evening and the day remained largely incident-free but security has been beefed up in Bareilly district following reports of communal tension.
The death toll in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli violence has gone up to 41 on Tuesday according to unofficial sources, with 13 more people dying in stray incidents of stabbing and firing in villages around the district in the past 24 hours.
Uttar Pradesh home secretary Kamal Saxena, however, confirmed only 38 deaths.
Nearly 600 families in 14 villages in Muzaffarnagar have fled their homes to safer places in the wake of communal violence.
In Kurmali, the civil and senior police officials had to personally intervene to prevent 60 families belonging to one community from fleeing the Jauhara village where a man was beheaded.
The state government, on Monday night, set up a judicial commission of inquiry under the chairmanship of retired Justice Vishnu Sahay, who has been asked to submit his report within two months into the circumstances leading to the communal riots.
The move came after UP governor B.L. Joshi sent a report to the Centre severely indicting the state government for firstly, ignoring the tension in the area and then acting in a leisurely manner when the violence broke out.
Eight persons were reported killed in Muzaffarnagar district, one in Shamli and four in Baghpat on Monday, sources said.
Two brothers were killed in Ratanpuri on Monday night, while in Padaav Chowk of Meerapur, a mob stabbed two persons, one from Sanota, Meerut and the other from Parikshitgarh.
One person was murdered in Mukanpur in Titavi area, while his nephew was critically injured.
Another youth in Dhaulara in Titavi area was stabbed to death, while a body was found from Jaula canal in Budhana. Both the deceased are yet to be identified. An unidentified body was also found in Kutba-Kutbi in Shahpur.
In Shamli district, a local priest was shot dead in Kurmali village. In Baghpat, a 14-year-old boy was stabbed to death while returning from the fields. The police said this was not a communal violence-related crime.
In Katha village of Baghpat, a youth was killed and his face badly burnt, while a body was found from a canal near Badaut.