Visitors with their vehicles parked illegally on the Cafe Niloufer–My Home Bhooja Road in Knowledge City in Hyderabad.
| Photo Credit: NAGARA GOPAL

Screenshot from the video posted online showing a stray dog inside a restaurant at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA)

Screen grab of a video showing the incident. Photo: Arrangement

Hyderabad:

A row erupted on Wednesday over meat being found in a temple here but the matter ended after CCTV visuals conclusively proved it was a cat that tiptoed inside the shrine with what emerged later as mutton.

The incident at Tappachabutra in the old city created a flutter before police concluded, based on video evidence that it was the cat that caused trouble.

Earlier in the day, a protest was held after the piece of meat was found inside the Lord Shiva Temple in the Hanuman Temple premises under Tappachabutra Police Station.

A release from Hyderabad Police said they received information on Wednesday morning that a piece of meat was found inside the temple premises.

Police swung into action and senior officials visited the temple to assess the situation.

The meat, weighing around 250 gram, was seized and it was subsequently found to be mutton, a police official said.

Four teams were immediately formed to analyse CCTV footage from the surrounding area.

During investigation, footage from one of the CCTV cameras near the temple clearly showed a cat carrying meat in its mouth and entering the temple premises, police said.

The footage conclusively proved that the cat was responsible for placing the meat behind the Shiva Lingam, it said.

In light of these findings, the police appealed to citizens to refrain from spreading rumours or misinformation regarding the incident.

A temple committee member earlier told a TV channel that someone threw meat near the Shiva Lingam. Devotees who came for puja noticed it, he said.

Local residents along with members of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) gathered in front of the temple and held a protest and raised slogans condemning the incident.

A case was registered and police took up investigation.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Hyderabad:

After shooting the guard of an ATM cash vehicle in Karnataka’s Bidar on Thursday afternoon and escaping with Rs 93 lakh in cash, two robbers opened fire at another person in Hyderabad hours later.

The latest victim, who works as a manager at a private travel firm, sustained injuries and is undergoing treatment at a hospital. An alert has been sounded in the entire city and efforts are underway to arrest the accused, the police added. 

The incident took place at Afzal Gunj area when the robbers were preparing to board a bus to travel to Raipur. 

Sources said the two men arrived in Hyderabad on a bike after committing the murder and robbery in Bidar and then visited a private travel agency’s office to book tickets for a bus to Raipur.

The agency’s owner, Rais Ahmad, told reporters that the two men visited his office between 3pm and 4pm. 

“One of them introduced himself as Amit Kumar. Their bus was scheduled to leave at around 7pm. We usually inspect luggage if we find anything suspicious. When our manager, Jahangir, asked them to open their bag, the accused took out a few bundles of notes and tried to bribe him. When Jahangir insisted on seeing the contents of the bag, the accused opened fire at him and subsequently escaped,” Mr Ahmad said. 

Jahangir underwent a surgery and is recovering in a hospital, he added. 

Earlier in the day, the two men shot dead an ATM cash vehicle guard and injured another as they looted Rs 93 lakh from the vehicle in Bidar. The incident took place in front of the State Bank of India’s (SBI’s) main branch in the city, where the van was parked to reload an ATM. 

One of the guards in the vehicle, Giri Venkatesh, died on the spot, while another guard, Shivakumar, sustained injuries. Doctors said that Shivakumar is in a critical condition.

Before opening fire, the robbers threw chilli powder on the guards, police said. Although local residents raised an alarm, threw stones at them, and attempted to catch them, the robbers managed to escape.

Hyderabad:

A woman engineering student was allegedly sexually assaulted at a private hostel here by a driver employed by the building’s owner, police said on Thursday.

The incident occurred on Wednesday night when the first-year student was alone in her room. The accused allegedly knocked on her door, claiming he had a bed sheet to offer.

When the woman opened the door, the intruder suddenly entered the room and allegedly sexually assaulted her.

Police said the accused is a driver working for the hostel building’s owner.

The woman had practical exams on Thursday, a police official said. Some other students were in different rooms at the time.

The victim lodged a complaint, based on which a case was registered at Ibrahimpatnam police station. She was taken to a hospital for a medical examination, and technical data has been collected, police added.

The accused has been apprehended, and further investigation is underway.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The Hyderabad Police on Sunday registered a criminal case against actor Daggubati Venkatesh and his family members for allegedly illegally demolishing a hotel last year, despite a pending injunction from a City Civil Court and order to maintain status quo from the Telangana high court.

Besides Daggubati Venkatesh, his brother and producer Daggubati Suresh, Suresh’s son and actor Daggubati Rana and, Rana’s brother and producer Daggubati Abhiram have been charged under sections 448, 452, 458, and 120B – trespass and criminal conspiracy – of the Indian Penal Code, police sources said. 

There was no immediate comment from actor Daggubati Venkatesh or the remaining accused at the time of filing this report. 

The case pertains to the demolition of the Deccan Kitchen Hotel in Film Nagar, allegedly by the actor and his family in January last year. Sources said the property was owned by the Daggubati family, but leased to a man named Nanda Kumar, who is an accused in the alleged poaching of Telangana Rashtra Samithi (now known as Bharat Rashtra Samithi) MLAs in 2022.

In November 2022, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) razed a portion of the hotel and adjoining structures constructed by Mr Kumar, alleging that they were unauthorised. 

In July 2023, the High Court sought an explanation from the GHMC officials on the demolition and ordered it to maintain status quo. 

The Daggubati family, however, reportedly completely demolished the structure in January last year, prompting Mr Kumar to approach Nampally Court for violation of court orders. 

In the court, Mr Kumar claimed that he suffered a loss of Rs 20 crore due to the demolition. The court then ordered the police to investigate the matter. 

The court had ordered the police to investigate the matter.

As the proceedings continued on Saturday, the court directed the police to register an FIR against the accused. 

Hyderabad:

A 38-year-old YouTuber in Hyderabad was arrested on Wednesday on charges of sexually harassing a 32-year-old woman, who acted with him in a web series, police said.

The case against Prasad Behera was registered on the basis of a complaint by the woman at Jubilee Hills Police Station.

According to the police, the woman said that Mr Behera abused, misbehaved with, and sexually harassed her on multiple occasions during the shooting of the web series. 

Following the complaint, a case was registered against Mr Behera, and he was subsequently arrested, a police officer said. He has been sent to police custody for 14 days, the officer added.

Hyderabad:

Veteran Telugu actor Mohan Babu, who was booked for attempt to murder for assaulting a video journalist last week, visited the victim to personally apologise to him and his family, in a Hyderabad hospital on Sunday.

The TV9 video journalist, Muppidi Ranjith Kumar, had sustained fractures to his zygomatic bone in the assault that took place in the actor’s Jalpally residence on December 10. He is undergoing treatment at Yashoda Hospital. 

“He (Mr Babu) offered an apology to me, my family and the entire journalist fraternity,” Mr Kumar was quoted as saying by PTI.

He added that the actor said he will visit the journalist’s house once he recovers and is discharged from the hospital.

In his complaint with the police, the journalist said that when he visited Mr Babu’s residence to cover the ongoing dispute between Mr Babu and his younger son Manoj, the senior actor confronted him and other journalists aggressively. 

Mr Babu allegedly grabbed the microphone, used “abusive and foul language”, and “attacked” him with it, causing a head injury, the complainant said. 

As the assault sparked protests by journalist associations in Hyderabad, demanding accountability and stricter measures to ensure the safety of media personnel, Mr Babu apologised through a statement on December 13. 

“I am writing this letter to formally address the unfortunate incident that occurred recently and to express my deep regret over the events that transpired. It pains me deeply that what started as a personal family dispute spiraled into a larger situation, causing distress not only to the esteemed TV9 family but also to the broader journalist fraternity,” Mr Babu said. 

The actor also said that he lost his composure in the heat of the moment as 30 to 50 “anti-social elements” forcibly barged into his house. He alleged that the “elements” intended to cause harm to him.

“Amidst this chaos, the media inadvertently became intertwined in the situation. As I tried to manage the situation, one of your journalists, unfortunately, sustained an injury. This was a deeply regrettable outcome, and I deeply regret the pain and inconvenience caused to him, his family, and the TV9 community. I sincerely apologize for my actions, which have caused pain and distress,” Mr Babu said.

On the basis of a statement by the journalist, a case under section 109 (attempt to murder) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was filed against the actor.

Hyderabad:

A 25-year-old woman from Odisha, who had come to Hyderabad for surrogacy, died under mysterious circumstances after reportedly “falling” from a residential apartment, police said on Wednesday.

The woman’s husband alleged that she was sexually harassed by a 54-year-old businessman who had hired her for surrogacy, leading her to take her own life on the night of November 25-26.

Raidurgam police have booked the businessman for abetment of suicide under relevant sections of the BNS and are investigating the allegations.

According to police, the woman had been staying in a room in the businessman’s flat for the past month, while her husband was housed in a separate room.

The businessman resides in the flat with his wife and other family members, and the surrogacy procedure was scheduled to begin next month, police said.

Officials found saris tied to an iron grill on the balcony of the woman’s room, extending from the ninth floor to the seventh floor.

Police suspect she may have attempted to climb down to escape but are also examining whether she accidentally fell or died by suicide. The investigation is underway.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)