PHOTOS: Communal riots leaves Andhra town scarred

Grim details of the communal violence in Sangareddy town of Medak district in Andhra Pradesh were slowly emerging as the people of the town were yet to recover from the shocking incidents which started unfolding on Thursday night.

In communal clashes, which broke out on Thrusday night after the publication of a distorted and disfigured photo of a religious place allegedly by BJP activist Pavan Kumar Mudiraj on a social media website, the organised gangs of miscreants went on rampage in different parts of town targeting the houses, shops and other properties of one community.

Even before the police could move in, dozens of shops and vehicles were set ablaze and the groups of people were indulging in pitched battles with stones. More than a dozen people were injured, the police said.

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The violence continued till after midnight when the district superintendent of police Victor John decided to impose curfew in town.

"We are imposing indefinite curfew and lifting it will depend on improvement in situation," he said, appealing to the people to help in restoring peace.

But tension continued on Friday with fresh incidents of stone pelting and group clashes.

Students had a harrowing time in reaching the centres of SSC board exams.

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As the Deputy Chief Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha along with the local Congress MLA T Jayaprakash Reddy visited the riot hit areas, the town was looking like a battle field with burnt out and damaged vehicles, burnt and damaged shops and kiosks narrating the tale of the lawlessness and the police failure.

"We will bring the culprits to the book and take stern action if the police officials were found guilty of any lapses," Rajanarsimha said.

Local people alleged that the police failed to take timely action and violence continued before the eyes of the policemen and the local MLA.

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They said that a similar provocation had taken place some time back and they had lodged a complaint with the police but nothing was done.

The miscreant had uploaded a photo of Kaaba, the holy place of Muslims in Mecca, Saudi Arabia with a provocative caption. Local people, who saw it on Facebook, downloaded it and handed it over to the local police with a complaint on Thursday.

Later, while Muslims were staging a protest outside the police station, some miscreants indulged in stone pelting leading to the violence.

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In Hyderabad, Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy held a review meeting with the top police officials and directed them to take immediate steps to restore peace and order in the town.

Home Minister Sabita Indra Reddy, who also attended the meeting, said that the additional forces were summoned from Mahbubnagar and Nalgonda districts and the situation was now under control.

The communal violence in Sangareddy is the worst ever seen in this part of Nalgonda.

Earlier, Adoni town of Kurnool had also seen large scale communal violence last year.

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