Construction of a temporary place of worship on disputed land in Amberpet led to clashes between two communities, with both groups pelting stones at each other on Sunday.
As the situation turned violent, leaving over 20 persons including three police officers injured, additional forces including armed personnel were rushed to the spot, to bring the situation under control.
The clash, which began at around 4.30 p.m. on Sunday, went on for an around 90 minutes, leaving residents in surrounding areas horrified and bringing traffic to a standstill till midnight.
Lathi-charge
Though officials confirmed that the situation was under control, police resorted to lathi-charge to control the angry mob.
“Groups of two different communities pelted stones at each other following a heated exchange over the construction of a temporary mosque on disputed land, on which a mosque was recently demolished by GHMC for road winding,” a senior police officer said.
BJP MLA chased out
BJP legislator from Goshamahal T. Raja Singh reached the spot to support a particular community.
Hyderabad police commissioner Anjani Kumar adopted an aggressive stance in instructing his subordinates to lift Mr Singh and his supporters from the spot. Mr Singh resisted and alleged that the police were supporting a particular party and community. “When you (police) are not allowing me, how did you allow MIM legislator Ahmed Pasha Quadri to offer prayers there,” he argued with cops while being shifted to a vehicle.
Police brought the situation under control within minutes of the trouble breaking out, Mr. Kumar said.
Another senior official on the spot said they were ready to lob teargas shells and fire with rubber bullets if the mob did not disperse and continued pelting stones.
Assked the reason behind the clashes which took on a communal colour, the officer said it was the fall-out of the mosque demolition. “They have demolished a place of worship without taking locals into confidence and they did not even inform local police about it. That resulted in a riot-like situation,” the officer said.
The officer said that the issue was going on since a week. “The angry mob picked up bricks and rubble left from the demolition debris and started attacking each other,” police said.
Special teams were formed to monitor the situation. Police also searched a few houses in the area.