As life in the violence-hit Old City in Hyderabad was returning to normal, some miscreants again tried to create trouble by setting ablaze six cars parked in the surrounding areas of Charminar in the wee hours of Monday. The incident took place at around 3:30 am when five unidentified miscreants riding on two bikes, ablazed six cars parked on the streets in Ghansi Bazar, Golla Galli and Tagari Ka Naka areas near Charminar.
The vehicles set on fire by the miscreants included a Honda City (AP 12 J 1890) and a Scorpio (AP 12 G 1800), which belonged to Satya Prakash Agarwal and his brother which was parked at Tagari Ka Naka. After this, the miscreants set ablaze a Honda Brio and a Honda City at Ghansi Bazar. The miscreants then went to Gola Galli and torched a Maruti Swift (AP 12 L 8892), and a Ford Ikon (AP 10 AM 8061) which belonged to Baglekar Sham Kumar and Sainath respectively. The Charminar Police said that, among the cars set on fire, Swift was completely damaged, whereas, other vehicles suffered partial damage.
Traffic and surveillance CCTV cameras at Ghansi Bazar recorded the footages of five people travelling on two bikes setting the vehicles on fire. The Charminar Police said, "In the video, it is clearly visible that the pillion rider getting off the bike, sprinkling inflammable material on the four-wheelers, which he was carrying in a pouch-like thing, and then lighting it up with a match stick. All the vehicles were set ablaze in less than five minutes."
The Charminar police have registered a case under section 435 (Mischief by Fire) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and are taking help of the video footage to nab the offenders. All the five miscreants belong to a particular community and some of them are also said to have close ties with certain political parties.
