Hyderabad cops smell conspiracy behind violence

The special investigation team of the Hyderabad police is close to exposing the conspiracy behind the communal violence in the city last Saturday. According to reliable sources they have found evidence of involvement of outsiders, from Karnataka and Maharashtra in the violence.

The police have also launched a manhunt for a Telugu Desam corporator and  a Bharatiya Janata Party corporator, M Vaikuntam, who have emerged as prime suspects.

Another suspect is Raju Singh, who was an accused in the kidnapping and murder of two Christian pastors in Tappa Chabutra area of the city in 2003 and is a member of of the Hindu Vahini. The police suspect that Singh played a major role in triggering the violence at Musa Bowli temple and helped spread it to the other areas by sending SMSes. Interestingly while police was looking for him, Singh appeared on a local television channel where he blamed the police and the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen for the violence.

Vaikuntam, on the other hand is alleged to have indulged in violence in the Begum Bazar area during the Bajrang Dal's procession on Tuesday which led to imposition of curfew in many areas of the city.  The SIT and intelligence sleuths were going through the phone records of  Singh and some others to establish the link between the rioters in Hyderabad and some people in other states. "The SMS sent by some people are going to be of key importance in this whole investigation", a senior police official said.

Reports in a section of media have quoted intelligence agencies saying that the mining mafia could be behind the riots in a ploy to destabilise the Rosaiah government which was taking tough measures against the illegal mining of iron ore. Meanwhile the state BJP president G Kishan Reddy has strongly denied that he had taken funds from Karnataka's minister and mine owner G Janardhan Reddy. "Even if thousand such Janaradhan Reddys come, they can not dare to do so", he told the reporters.

Even as peace was slowly returning to Hyderabad, the mischief mongers seem to be trying to forment trouble in other parts of the state.  In an incident in Nalgonda, a group of miscreants demolished the wall and gate of a mosque on Wednesday night, sparking off tension. However the situation remained under control as the community leaders and the police acted swiftly to get the wall repaired. Superintendent of police, Rajesh Kumar, told the media that the police was looking for the miscreants and they will be nabbed soon.

In Rajindernagar, on the outskirts of Hyderabad, some miscreants armed with sticks tried to create trouble, shouting slogans during the night. On being alerted by the locals, police rushed to the scene and arrested the inebriated trouble makers.

In other places with a history of communal trouble, the police were put on high alert. Adilabad district Superintendent of police, Pramod Kumar rushed to Bhainsa where nine people had died in communal violence two years ago. Additional police pickets were deployed in the town. 

In Nizamabad, the police frisked the people on the roads. Additional police pickets were deployed in the city as well as other towns of the district.