As the infuriated mob blocked traffic and targeted RTC buses demanding action against the officials of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation for the removal of the road side 'Pochamma temple', the police used lathis to disperse the crowd.
Putting a formal seal on the prominence of his family in the affairs of Praja Rajyam Party, film star-turned-politician Chiranjeevi formally appointed his younger brother and film star Pavan Kalyan as the chief of Yuva Rajyam, the youth wing of the PRP.
Singannagudem, a Dalit dominated small village in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh, received a pleasant surprise on Saturday when mega-star-turned-politician Chiranjeevi paid them a surprise visit. The chief of the Praja Rajyam party also participated in a community lunch to mark the 53rd death anniversary of Dr B R Ambedkar. Chiranjeevi sat down on the floor with other villagers and shared their meal.Chiranjeevi's gesture floored the Dalit community in the village.
Most parts of Hyderabad remained shut on Saturday after several Muslim organisations, including the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, called for a strike to mark the 16th anniversary of the demolition of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. Shops remained closed and roads wore a deserted look in the old city, where thousands of policemen, along with two companies of the Rapid Action Force, maintained a tight vigil. All educational institutions, business establishments remained shut.
The list, prepared by the Special Investigations Team and the counter-intelligence wing of the police, ranges from the youth who were missing for last one-and-a-half decade to several others who have been untraceable since last year's series of blasts in the city.
Police sources said the case of firing on the cops has been handed over to the Special Investigations Team as it has assumed more significance because Viqaruddin was believed to be planning a major terror attack in the city coinciding with the demolition of Babri Masjid.
Panic and tension gripped parts of Hyderabad when a suspected terrorist opened fire injuring two policemen in the old city area on Wednesday.
Even as the state government is planning to raise an elite commando force "State Security Guards" on the lines of National Security Guard, steps were being taken to turn the Hyderabad and neighboring Cyberbabad commissionerate in to a fortress.
Mir Mohtesham Ali Khan, the acclaimed bodybuilder from Hyderabad, brought the rare honor to the country by winning the bronze medal at the Musclemania World Tour competition, the highly respected World Bodybuilding Championship in Las Vegas, California. The 33-year-old Mohtesham Ali Khan won the bronze in the heavyweight category of the championship, held at the Grand Hall of Golden Nugget Hotel in Las Vegas on Saturday.
The police and the security agencies hunting for a key Lashkar-e-Taiba operative with links in Kashmir, finally caught up with him in Hyderabad.
The meeting was organized on Idgah Ujale Shah Ground in old city of Hyderabad to protest against the incidents of subjecting Muslim youth to physical torture and failure of the police to nab the culprits of the blast in Mecca Masjid in May last year.
This is the second death of a student due to ragging in Andhra Pradesh during last 24 hours. S Harish Kumar, a student of polytechnic college died at his home in Nandyal town of Kurnool district in the state on Friday night, nearly three months after he had attempted suicide by consuming acid over ragging and humiliation by the senior students.
Another Andhra family of non resident Indian woman has been plunged into grief by the news of the unnatural death of their daughter in the United States. A pall of gloom descended on the home of 25-year-old Sushma on hearing about the news of her suicide.
The Hyderabad police, which is under fire over the alleged torturing of a youth picked up after last year's Mecca Masjid blast, has once again evoked the ire of the Muslim community by allegedly threatening one of the acquitted persons not to go public with the details of torture.
Even as the state's minority welfare minister Mohammed Ali Shabbir went to town admitting the lapse of the police for arresting and torturing 22 innocent youth in the aftermath of the blasts in Hyderabad last year and talked of paying Rs 30,000 each to rehabilitate them, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy has ruled out any compensation.
Praja Ankitam Yatra of filmstar-turned-politician Chiranjeevi evoked a huge response from the people in Pulivendula, the home turf of the Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy as the people, mostly youth and women, flooded the streets and the roads in thousands to see and hear the actor.
Praja Rajyam party leader and actor Chiranjeevi has taken his fight directly in to the camp of his 'enemy's fort'. He started his "Praja Ankitam Yatra" in Kadapa district from Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's home constituency Pulivendula today amid tight security.
The details of the torture and humiliation endured by the 21 Muslim youths, who were detained after the twin blasts in Hyderabad last year, are finally coming out of the closet.
Police said the incident occurred as people pushed and jostled, and fell over each other to get closer to the star's vehicle. Private security guards and the star's fans, who formed the security ring around the vehicle, tried to keep the situation under control but couldn't save the two persons from being trampled.
Khai Muk, the tropical cyclone in the south-east Bay of Bengal which was threatening to strike coastal Andhra region since Friday, has weakened, the Cyclone Warning Center at Visakhapatanam said on Saturday. "It is likely to weaken further into a depression or even low pressure," S Venkateshwarulu, director of CWC, told rediff.com.Earlier, the state government had put the administration in all the nine coastal districts on high alert to deal with the situation.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances