Hyderabad, April 19: Hanuman Jayanti rally passed off peacefully on Monday amidst heightened security all along the procession route from Ram temple in Gowliguda to Hanuman temple in Bowenpally.
Over 7,000 devotees, mostly youngsters riding bikes, took part in the rally that began around noon and lasted for five hours.
Former MP, A. Narendra, former MLAs, B. Bal Reddy and P. Ramaswamy and Vishwa Hindu Parishad president, Yaman Singh, welcomed the participants at Ram temple.
While DCPs, V.B. Kamalasan Reddy and Y. Ganadhar, of Task Force and East zone respectively monitored the situation at the beginning of the procession, huge contingents of police were deployed at every vulnerable point along the route.
The plan of police to change the procession route by diverting it towards Ashoknagar at RTC crossroads instead of allowing via Musheerabad ensured there was no disturbance.
Traffic, however, got slowed down at some places including the Tank Bund and stuck at a few other points as the massive rally passed through the busy roads. Keeping in view the outbreak of communal clashes during the procession at Musheerabad last year, police higher-ups took precautions not to allow the rally through localities having mixed population.
–Agencies–