The SIT of Hyderabad Police arrested Nagaraj, a sanitation supervisor, Kiran Kumar, Ramesh and Dayanand Singh, who under the influence of liquor allegedly placed beef pieces on the temple premises on the intervening night of April 7-8, purportedly to throw blame on members of a minority community, a senior police officer said.
Subsequently, several incidents of violence took place in the communally sensitive areas of the old city, with members of two communities clashing and indulging in stabbing and heavy stone-pelting, prompting authorities to clamp indefinite curfew on areas under Saidabad and Madannapet police station circles for almost a week.
Even as the curfew was in force, similar incidents were reported where pieces of meat were found lying on the premises of shrines in Kachiguda and Moghalpura.
According to the senior SIT official, the four accused have confessed and investigation has established that one Srinivas alias Salman Srinu, a private money lender, and Niranjan, who runs a wine shop, hatched a conspiracy to cause tension between the two communities in Kurmaguda.
The duo then instigated Nagaraj, Kiran Kumar, Ramesh and Dayanand Singh to trigger the violence, the police officer said. Both Srinivas and Niranjan are absconding.
The SIT has so far arrested 23 persons in connection with the violence. PTI VVK ABC