Date:20/05/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/05/20/stories/2007052005580600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Anxious moments for police at Charminar

Special Correspondent

Youth shout slogans against Chief Minister; Patil, YSR visit NIMS

HYDERABAD: A large mob of angry youth gave anxious moments to police at Charminar on Saturday minutes after Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil and Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy passed by to visit Mecca Masjid, the scene of the bomb blast, a few furlongs away.

The youth shouted slogans against Dr. Reddy and advanced angrily before police cleared them to pave way for the return journey of the VIPs' convoy. Mr. Patil and Dr. Reddy then drove to the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) to call on the injured in the incidents through near deserted roads.

Inspecting the damage at the mosque, Mr. Patil and Dr. Reddy were confronted by an equally angry Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) MP Asaduddin Owaisi who demanded a probe by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the police firing in which five people were killed and several others injured.

Mr. Owaisi shouted at Rajya Sabha member, V. Hanumantha Rao, when the latter tried to intervene saying the State Government would seek inquiry by the CBI. The MIM leader asked Mr. Rao under what authority he was speaking when Mr. Patil and Dr. Reddy were around.

Dr. Reddy, however, conceded another demand of Mr. Owaisi for transfer of Charminar Assistant Commissioner of Police B. Reddanna and a Sub-Inspector of Hussaini Alam police station who were allegedly responsible for the firing. The 15-minute stay of Mr. Patil at the mosque saw Home Minister of State K. Jana Reddy embracing a former MIM corporator when he complained of highhandedness by police against relatives of victims in the incidents.