A large number of policemen including the Rapid Action Force (RAF) were deployed. Policemen were checking the vehicles and frisking the people.
Tension is high in the Old City of Hyderabad since morning on Sunday, 11 November, 2012. According to media reports Police is allegedly facilitating in the expansion of Bhagyalaxmi temple against the High Court orders.
Police have forced the shop owners in the area to close down causing unrest in the residents of the area. Heavy police and RAF personnel have been deployed in the area to avoid any communal tension.
city police commissioner Anurag Sarma has said that they were setting up civil administration at the disputed temple on the orders of the AP high court. He has appealed to the people to establish peace in the area. He has also appealed to the people not to believe rumors.
As the situation turned serious following the MIM leaders and supporters insisting on stopping the work at the Temple, police arrested MLAs Akbaruddin Owaisi, Khadri, Mumtaj Ahmed Khan and Mozum Khan, and also a corporator of the old city, and shifted them to Bolarum police Station.
It may be mentioned here that MIM has been objecting to the extension work of the Bhagya Lakshmi temple on the grounds that it would endanger the historic Charminar. This has led to a tiff between the MIM and the BJP, which have been organizing rallies in support of their respective contentions.
The Bhagyalaskhmi Devalaya Parirakshanan Samithi had earlier declared that they are going to conduct Maha Aarti at Bhagylakshmi Temple at Charminar on Monday, November 12, 2012.
(NSS)