Old city arsonists are from Karnataka: Cops

The conspiracy behind the sudden clashes in Old City started unravelling with police discovering that outsiders from Bidar area of Karnataka and Maharashtra and had been brought in to stir up violence in the past three days.

Sleuths are also hunting for the Telugu Desam corporator of Mangalhat, Mr Raju Singh, who is alleged to have deliberately whipped up communal tensions in the area.

Senior police officers have informed the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, on the involvement of outsiders in the clashes during the briefing on law and order on Wednesday evening.

The home minister, Mrs P. Sabita Reddy, also hinted at the involvement of outsiders in the riots, but she refused to elaborate further.

"As outsiders are indulging in violence the locals are not able to identify the culprits," she pointed out. “In all the places where violence broke out people of different religions have been living cordially.”

The Chief Minister asked the director general of police, Mr R.R.Girish Kumar, to speedily identify culprits and arrest them as early as possible.

He asked the district collector, Mr Navin Mittal, and the civil supplies commissioner, Mr Sanjay Jaju, to ensure that milk and other essential commodities were made available in adequate quantities during the relaxation of curfew on Thursday.

The Chief Minister also directed officials to urge religious leaders to appeal for peace and harmony, particularly on Friday.

The Central Crime Station Special Investigation Team has taken up 67 criminal cases registered in various police stations in connection with the clashes and also took into custody 186 persons arrested while resorting to violence.

Meanwhile, corporator Raju Singh, who is in hiding, told a TV channel that he was in no way connected with the clashes.

“MIM is responsible for the clashes,” he said. “I am only working for strengthening of Hindu Vahini. All the political parties are playing a double game on this,"

The corporator was an accused in the murder of a pastor and is now involved in cable network business.

“We will arrest all who participated in the communal riots and will also unearth conspiracies behind it,” said the commissioner of police, Mr A.K. Khan. “We will not spare anyone whether he is a corporator or not.”

He added that special teams have been formed to look into all facets of the riots including the conspiracy angle.