Andhra saw terror strikes, protests over Telangana

State was rattled by Dilsukhnagar blasts, and pro- and anti-Telangana agitations

Year 2013 saw terror raising its ugly head in Hyderabad again after two blasts rattled Dilsukhnagar area killing 17 people and injuring over 100 even as pro and anti-Telangana protests across Andhra Pradesh during most part of the year kept the state police on tenterhooks.
    
The blasts triggered by powerful IEDs planted near Konark and Venkatadiri theatres in Dilsukhnagar on February 21 were carried out on alleged instructions of Indian Mujahideen's Pakistan-based founder Riyaz Bhatkal.
    
National Investigation Agency (NIA) probing the case arrested IM's co-founder Yasin Bhatkal and his close associate Asadullah Akhtar in connection with the blasts.

    

A police team from Tamil Nadu and commandos from Andhra Pradesh's OCTOPUS (Organisation To Counter Terrorist Operations) succeeded in arresting two terror suspects Panna Ismail and Bilal Malik from a hide-out in Puttur town of Chittoor district in the state on October 5.
    
Besides many other cases, Ismail and Malik were wanted in connection with the planting of a pipe bomb on the yatra route of BJP leader L K Advani near Tirumangalam in Madurai district in 2011 and also in connection with the killing of Tamil Nadu BJP leader Auditor Ramesh and Velliappan, leader of a rightwing Hindu organisation, Hindu Munnani.

    
The state police arrested 134 Maoists till December 11, 2013 compared to 274 in 2012 while the number of Maoist incidents came down to 23 in the year gone by compared to 39 in the previous year.
    
Hardcore Maoist Sriramula Srinivas alias Sudarshan, wanted in connection with several cases including the killing of former Home Minister A Madhava Reddy, was arrested in Khammam district in March while another senior cadre Pusa Sivanarayana, who was also the incharge of the Central Committee protection platoon was arrested in Medak district in October.
    
Police had a tough time dealing with pro-Telangana agitations in the city and different Telangana districts in first half of the year and in the Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema regions which witnessed large-scale protests over the Centre's decision to carve out separate state by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh.

    
An anti-Congress sentiment swept the two regions as protesters attacked the houses of APCC president and state minister Botsa Satyanarayana at Vizianagaram and several other ministers and leaders.

Several incidents of clashes were reported at Osmania University here besides in Vizianagaram and Anantapur districts, where the pro-Telangana activists and Samaikhyandhra held protests.
    
All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen's (MIM) floor leader in the Andhra Pradesh assembly and MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, who faced multiple cases for his alleged "hate speech", was arrested by police in January 2013 and was sent to jail.
    
Similarly, MIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, against whom a non-bailable warrant was pending in a 2005 case, was also sent to judicial remand by a court in Sangareddy town of Medak district. Asaduddin, along with his brother Akbaruddin, was among others booked by the Patancheru police for obstructing the then Medak Collector A K Singhal from discharging his duties besides other charges. Both the Owaisi brothers were subsequently released.

    
In July, former Andhra Pradesh minister and Secunderabad Cantonment Congress MLA P Shankar Rao was arrested in connection with a dowry harassment case lodged against him by his daughter-in-law.

In October, two cab-drivers Satish and Venkateshwarlu were arrested by Cyberabad Police on charges of raping a 22-year-old woman software professional near a forest area on the city outskirts after abducting her in their car.
    
Eleven undertrial prisoners undergoing treatment for mental sickness at the Institute of Mental Health in Eragadda here escaped from the prisoners ward of the hospital even as nine of them were subsequently nabbed.

    
In December, Cyberabad Police resolved the sensational bank burglary case at a private bank here in which 15 kg gold worth Rs 4.5 crore was stolen, with the arrest of a gold appraiser M Brahma Chary, working at the bank besides his wife and son.
    
Dismissed Police Transport Organisation (PTO) head constable Giriprasad Sarma, who was on the run in connection with the abduction of a PTO official Ramana Rao was arrested here in August.
    
A hardcore terrorist of terror module Indian Muslim Mohammadi Mujahideen, Mohammed Aijaz Ahmed alias Aijaz, who was absconding since 2006 was arrested from Kuwait and brought to the city by Andhra Pradesh Police in October.

    
Following a court order, police registered an FIR in December against Bollywood actor Salman Khan and producers of the reality TV show "Big Boss 7" for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.