A day after BJP Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind accused the Telangana police of targeting Hindu Vahini members in the Bhainsa violence, Telangana North Zone Inspector General of Police Y Nagi Reddy on Tuesday rejected the allegations and said that the violence was in fact started by the members of the Hindu Vahini.
Violence broke out in Bhainsa town on March 7, in which 12 persons including three police officers were injured. Four houses, 13 shops, four autorickshaws, six four wheelers and five two wheelers were set on fire. Violence, however, on a minor scale continued for the next two days in Pardi and Mahagaon. Police said that the violence on the following days were the handiwork of Hindu Vahini District president Santosh, who has been arrested.
On Tuesday, a week after the incident, the IG disclosed that the violence was triggered by a Hindu Vahini member, Dattu Patel and his friend Thota Mahesh.
On the day of the incident, at 8.20 pm, Dattu Patel and Thota Mahesh who were going on a bike deliberately picked a fight by hitting a person identified as Rizwan while he was walking on a road along with his friends near Zulfiqur mosque in the town.
Subsequently at 8.30 pm, when Rizwan along with his friends went searching for the duo, Rakesh, Gokul and Mahesh-- all members of the Hindu Vahini-- attacked them.
Further Dattu, yet again went to Zulfiqur street, a street with considerable Muslim population and picked up an altercation, leading to stone pelting between two religious groups, police said in its press release.
The violence then escalated and spread to the entire town when two counsellors-- Abdul Khabeer from the AIMIM and Thota Vijay, an ex-member of Hindu Vahini-- each gathering crowds and engaging in arson, police said.
So far in the incident police have filed a total of 26 cases and added 38 people as accused including four children, who participated in the violence were arrested. Besides arresting these offenders, 66 persons with a history of engaging in similar communal violence were also named, the IG said.
BJP Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind on Monday had threatened, “The police works under the pressure of the TRS and AIMIM. In a few days, the BJP will have to show its strength by holding a meeting. The Hindu society from all the parts of the state will congregate at Bhainsa. In the coming days, there will be more law and order problems. So you immediately change your attitude.”
“The police have identified and arrested 150 Hindu group members. This has to stop at once. Else, in the coming days, when the Hindu society unitedly unleashes itself, the police will have to face the brunt of it. Don’t lead to such a situation,” the controversial MP had threatened.
Similarly, earlier this week, BJP state president Bandi Sanjay also alleged the police of “shielding” one particular community.
“Nirmal district Hindu Vahini president Santosh and Bhainsa Town Hindu Vahini president Tholaji, along with few others have been illegally detained by police. We have received information that they are being tormented with third-degree torture. If the police continues to shield one group and doesn’t release the Hindu Vahini members, you will face our wrath. We know how to save our karyakarthas. The attack was on Hindus,” Sanjay had said.
Claiming that the arrested Hindu group members were innocent, the BJP president said, “Should we keep quiet if we are being attacked?"
A curfew has been imposed in Bhainsa since the March 7 violence and the internet continues to be suspended. Police, however, have relaxed the curfew timings to four hours.