Report of the Fact Finding Committee
R Mallikarjunarao
The four-member Fact Finding Committee, which visited Nalgonda town on December 16 to find the truth behind the incidents of December 10, 11 and 12, found thatthe incident was not related to any communal violence and it was a petty issue,which the local SP Naveen Gulati failed to handle. The Committee said theprotest by the devotees was natural, as armed police entered the Hanumantemple with shoes and leather belt and used tear gas shells on the devotees.The Committee saidthe act of the local SP was totally illegal and unconstitutional. He acted as adictator. The Committee recommended the constitution of an Enquiry Commissionto look into the highhanded behaviour of the SP, and to decidecompensation for the victims. The four-member Committee comprised ofadvocate (High Court) Manikonda Vijay Kumar, advocate Veerabrahma Chary,advocate DK Satyanarayan from Mahaboobnagar and advocate Venkateshwarlu fromR.R. District. The Committee recorded the statements of the victims, eyewitnesses, villagers and shopkeepers.The incidentoccurred on December 10 at Rahmed Nagar, BTS Miryalaguda Road in Nalgonda atabout 1:15 pm over a petty accident between an auto and motor cycle. The autodriver (Swamy JellalaVenkanna) was in the dress of Hanuman Malla, while themotor cycle belonged to a Muslim. The passersby tried to pacify the dispute.But the Muslim youth assaulted not only Swamy but also the passersby. In themeanwhile, an ASI of Special Branch, Nazir, intervened in the matter. Nazir issaid to be the relative of the Muslim youth. He asked them to go home anddirected Swamy J Venkanna to accompany him to the Police Station. The wife ofVenkanna was also in the auto at the time of accident. The auto was taken to ITown police station. On the instruction of Nazir, the head constable tookcustody of the auto.Venkanna questionedwhy he was detained along with his auto and the real culprits were freed.Meanwhile, Modi Setty Venkatesh reached the police station and requested thehead constable to release Venkanna and his auto, as they wanted to attend thePooja and Biksha at Hanuman Temple and assured that he would come back aftercompleting the Biksha along with the auto. The head constable refused to handover the auto, on which J Venkanna and Guru Swamy left the police station. Theycompleted the pooja and Biksha and they came back to police stationalong with other saints, numbering about 30, and insisted for registering thecase against the persons, who removed the Malla forcibly. Since the officer incharge refused to do so, all the saints sat on a dharna outside the policestation.While the dharnawas going on, two Muslim youths came on a bike and tried to dash the saints.There was some exchange of heated words between them. The youth left from theplace. In the meanwhile, police started lathicharge on the protesting saints.When the SP ordered lathicharge, the policemen were reluctant to raise theirsticks on the devotees. But the SP immediately himself took up the stick andstarted beating the devotees. Some of the devotees entered the Hanuman TempleTo protect themselves. But the police entered the Temple premises along withshoes and belts. When the saints and the devotees objected over it they toowere beaten up. The police under the supervision of SP created a war-likesituation. The same day at about 8:00 pm the RDO Nalgonda called a peacemeeting. Maladharan Swamies informed the RDO that they will perform KalashaPuja and a KalashaYatra will be taken out.Accordingly, atabout 7:30 am on December 11, the Kalasha Yatra was started by the Ayyappa andHanuman Maladharies. When the yatra reached I Town police station, thepolice did not allow it move further. The saints moved towards MRO office, butthe SP reached there and again started lathicharge on the devotees. Some of thedevotees objected to it. The police also used tear gas shells, even thoughthere was no protest.When advocatesChinta Sambha Murthy and Nookala Ram Reddy sought clarification from the SP onthe issue, the SP beat Chinta Samba Murthy with his stick and a sub inspectorkicked him. When Nookala Venkatareddy tried to protect Samba Murthy, he too wasbeaten up mercilessly. Agitated over it, the local Bar Association boycottedthe court proceedings on December 12 demanding judicial enquiry into theincident and criminal action against the SP. A bandh was also observed onDecember 12.Meanwhile,the police registered 9 cases related to the incidents of 10th and 11th. Only2 petty cases were registered against Muslims and 7 cases were registered againstothers. In two cases, 43 persons are shown as accused; out of them 21 werearrested on December 13. As on December17, they were in judicial custody at Nalgonda Jail. The other 22 persons, mostly Malla Dhari Swamis of Ayyappa and Hanuman, have been shown as absconding. The physical verification by the Committee members found that the people in the area were in fear of policearrest. Some houses were found locked.
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