Tension in Amberpet area after two communities hurl stones at each other

Tension prevailed in Amberpet area Sunday night after members of two communities pelted stones at each other over the setting up of a shed on a land where a place of worship was demolished last week, police said.

The place of worship was demolished by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) for road widening Wednesday night last week.

On Sunday, some members of a community gathered and apparently tried to lay a shed after which members of another group, which allegedly opposed their plans, claimed that there was no place of worship there, the police said.

The groups got involved in a heated argument following which people raised slogans and hurled stones at each other, Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anjani Kumar said.

Kumar and senior police officials immediately reached the spot and the situation was brought under control.

Pickets were set up in the entire area and police took up patrolling, he told reporters.

Kumar said some people were arrested in connection with the incident. BJP MLA T Raja Singh was among those who were taken into preventive custody.

The commissioner said there was no need for the people to be worried as the situation had returned to normal and sufficient forces were deployed.

Some groups and political parties also staged protests at the site of demolition over the past two days demanding re-construction of the place of worship.

Telangana Home Minister Mohammad Mahmood Ali on Saturday had said the government launched a probe into the demolition of the religious place, though, he said, it had been abandoned for several years and prayers were not performed there.

A man who claimed ownership of the land had given consent for demolition and compensation had already been paid to him after which the GHMC had taken up demolition, officials had earlier said.

Ali had also 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.