Hyderabad: Even as tension prevailed in Amberpet area in Hyderabad a day after members of two communities clashed on Sunday, the police yesterday assured that the situation was under control now.
The row was over setting up of a shed on a land where a place of worship had been demolished by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation for widening the road, following which argument and stone hurling took place between the two communal groups.
Several groups and members of various political parties demanded that a place be built in that spot They also staged dharnas and protests at the site. Two police officials sustained minor injuries.
According to media reports, city police commissioner Anjani Kumar and other senior officials visited the spot and brought the situation under control.
Following this, Telangana BJP president K Laxman led a party’s delegation and met Director General of Police M Mahendar Reddy Monday evening and submitted a memorandum. They sought an inquiry into the incident and action on all. They also demanded action on the police officials for allegedly misusing their power and abusing the local people and the BJP public representatives.
The police took some people into preventive custody. Those arrested included Telangana’s BJP MLA T Raja Singh Lodh.
However, Telangana BJP leaders alleged that Singh had just gone to the area to enquire about the situation. They accused the police of being partial and that they lathicharged only members of Hindu organisations, who tried to stop attempts by another group to encroach upon the government land.
The BJP leaders further said some AIMIM leaders had reached the site and claimed there was a place of worship and started re-erecting a structure and offering prayers. This was objected to by the locals which, according to the BJP, was the genesis of the tension and the subsequent stone-hurling.
The party leaders further demanded registration of a case against AIMIM leaders and wanted the civic body to demolish the make-shift structure and allow road-widening work. Also, the party demanded that the police commissioner apologise for his alleged rude and unruly behaviour with MLA Raja Singh.
Telangana Home Minister Mohammad Mahmood Ali had on Saturday said the government had launched a probe into the demolition of the religious place, though it was not in use for several years and was abandoned and prayers were not performed. A man who claimed ownership of the land had given consent for demolition of a house and compensation had been paid to him, officials had earlier said. Ali had also said he would hold consultations with religious scholars and locals in this regard and if they insisted on construction at the same place, the government would comply.
Meanwhile, Raja Singh in a video message posted on a social networking site said he was taken into preventive custody by the police for protesting against the alleged illegal construction of the place of worship.