Hyderabad, April 06: Police on Monday claimed to have arrested 39 main accused in the communal violence that broke out in the city even as the curfew relaxation period has been increased by one more hour with normalcy returning in the violence-hit areas.
Curfew will be relaxed from 7 a.m to 5 p.m in all the 25 police station limits on Tuesday, Hyderabad City Police Commissioner AK Khan told reporters. “Today, it came to our notice that daily wagers will not get work after 7.30 a.m. So we have decided to relax curfew from 7 a.m itself as the situation remained peaceful during relaxation period on Monday,’’ Khan said. Thirty-nine persons were arrested by the sleuths of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for their role in the communal clashes taking the total number of arrests to 204 so far. “These 39 are main perpetrators and our special teams have collected good evidence against them,” Khan said adding one of them was an anti-social element. He refused to elaborate.
He also claimed significant progress in two important cases in the South Zone.
“We have identified those involved in the killing of a private bank employee in the Old City. Some of the suspects are being questioned and we will arrest the prime accused in the next couple of days,” Khan said. The same gang was also involved in the attack on two constables in the Old City on March 29, he added.
BJP State president G Kishan Reddy was arrested on Monday when he tried to enter the Old City to visit the victims of the communal clashes.
Meanwhile, the trouble-hit parts of the city remained peaceful during curfew relaxation hours on Monday as people went about their normal tasks. Roads near the Charminar have sprung back to life with business activity.
However, traffic came to a standstill at Afzalgunj, Moazamjahi Market and Begum Bazar around 5 p.m, when relaxation period ended, as people started to rush out of the Old City. “There were traffic snarls as people started to come out of the curfew-bound areas at the fag end of relaxation hours. We will try to prevent their recurrence on Tuesday,’’ Khan said.
The city has heaved a sigh of relief with trouble-torn areas of the Old City slowly returning to normalcy after days of communal clashes, but that’s no respite to City Police Commissioner AK Khan. No sooner did the violence subside than the Shaoib Malik- Sania Mirza marriage controversy flared up giving a sleepless night to the top cop on Sunday.
“I had been getting calls throughout the night from local, national and international media houses, some of which were quite new to me,” Khan quipped at a press conference on Monday.
According to sources, Khan and other police officers dealing with the Shoaib Malik case were quite surprised by the media attention being drawn by the issue.
Except stating that an efficient officer of CCS was heading the investigation, Khan refused to even reveal his name.
“Let him work in peace,” he said.
–Agencies–