Tension in Old City, MIM MLAs arrested

Hyderabad: Sporadic incidents of violence rocked the Old City after Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) legislators were arrested by police when they were trying to march towards Bhagyalakshmi temple at Charminar on Sunday. At some places, police had to fire tear gas shells and resort to mild lathicharge to disperse protestors.
    The MLAs gathered in the Old City after the Bhagyalakshmi temple management restored tarpaulin on the makeshift pandal with the assistance of the Hyderabad district administration as per the high court’s order.
    At 5 am, police barricaded all streets leading to Charminar from Gulzar Houz, Shah Ali Banda, Kotla Alijah Hussaini Alam, Moghulpura and Mirchowk.
    Under the supervision of officials from the Hyderabad collectorate, GHMC and Archeological Survey of India (ASI), the temple management began restoring the tarpaulin at 7 am and completed it in an hour. Police provided security cover for the entire operation.
    On learning about the tarpaulin restoration work, seven MIM legislators, including their floor leader in the Assembly, Akbaruddin Owaisi, gathered at Volta café in Moghalpura at 8 am. As they were planning to move towards Bhagyalakshmi temple, police, who were already waiting there, picked up the legislators along with six corporators.
    However, while they were being shifted into police vehicles, the legislators managed to give the slip to the cops. Another team of police personnel posted at Kotla Alijah intercepted five MLAs __ Akbaruddin Owaisi, Ahmed Balala, Ahmed Pasha Quadri, Moazzam Khan, Mumtaz Khan __ along with the corporators, were taken into custody again.
    Two other legislators, MLA Mohammed Muqtada Khan alias Afsar Khan and MLC Altaf Hyderabad Rizvi, who managed to escape even from there, were arrested near Gulzar Houz. All the arrested legislators and corporators were shifted to the Bolarum police station.
    Later in the day, Nampally MLA Virasat Rasool Khan and four corporators reached Ravindra Bharathi, where chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy was attending an event organized on the occasion of Minorities’ Welfare Day, and staged a protest against the arrest of his party leaders. Police immediately picked up the MLA and his associates and shifted them to the Gandhi Nagar police station.
    As the news of arrest of MIM leaders started flashing on news channels, sporadic incidents of stone pelting were reported at Chandrayangutta X Roads, Anmol Hotel, Edi Bazar, Kalabhairavi temple, Hussainialam and Musabowli X Roads.
    Four RTC buses, two cars, an ATM and a garments showroom were damaged in the violence. A mob targeted RTC buses on the Chandrayangutta main road and broke windshields of three buses.
    Police had to resort to mild lathicharge to disperse the mob at Chandrayangutta and several people, including MIM corporator Samad, suffered minor injuries.
    Protestors carrying black flags staged dharnas at Gulzar Houz, Nalgonda X Roads, Chaderghat, Chanchalguda, Tolichowki, Humayun Nagar and Punjagutta. Effigies of the state government were burnt at Machili Kaman and Charminar. Later in the evening, police fired tear gas shells and lathi-charged the stone-hurling mob at Talabkatta in Bhavani Nagar.
    Hyderabad police commissioner Anurag Sharma supervised the situation from his office at Purani Haveli since morning. Later in the night, the commissioner issued a press release clarifying that they had only provided bandobust for implementation of the high court orders.
    “In relation to the high court’s orders, the collector and the GHMC commissioner had consulted Archeological Survey of India (ASI) officials to determine the status (of temple pandal cover) as on October 30. ASI gave its opinion in writing that on October 30, there was a cover on the temporary structure at the temple. Based on these facts, the civic authorities permitted the Bhagyalakshmi temple committee to cover the temple structure with tarpaulin sheets, as an interim measure. Since, it was a sensitive issue, police force was deployed in the area to maintain peace and law & order,” Anurag Sharma said in the release.
    Police booked 18 cases in relation to Sunday’s violence and arrested 109 persons. By 6.45 pm, all the arrested legislators were released.