Ex-mayor okayed the "script" for Andhra riot

HYDERABAD, July 22: Majlis leader and former mayor of Hyderabad Alampalli Pochaiah was behind the circulation of the derogatory pamphlets in the Old City that led to a large-scale violence in June.

Ten persons died and 80 others were injured in the violence that rocked the city on June 5, 1998, forcing the police to bring most areas of the Old City under curfew. Majlis MLAs Asaduddin Owaisi and Mumtaz Khan and several others were arrested for instigating the violence. The city police today arrested four others and are on the look-out for Pochaiah and his son who were actively involved in creating communal rift. Disclosing the details at a press briefing, city police commissioner R P Singh said the vital clue came from an auto driver who happened to overhear one of the accused complain to his friends, in an inebriated state, how the mayor had paid for the deal.