Hyderabad: A manager and four waiters of the Meridian Restaurant in Punjagutta were arrested after they beat a 32-year-old man to death following a quarrel over some curd on Sunday night. They continued to assault the victim, Mohammed Liyaqat, a car dealer-cum-realtor, after the police reached the place and took him to the police station.
City police commissioner C.V. Anand late on Monday evening suspended Panjagutta sub-inspector Shiva Shankar, and constable Shankar for not responding properly and rescuing Liyaqat.
According to the police, Liyaqat and three of his friends, allegedly inebriated, had ordered a take-out order of biryani. Upon receiving it, asked for additional curd. After being denied, Liyaqat and his friends are alleged to have abused the hotel manager, Krishna Sagar, and the staff. The incident occurred at about 10.30 pm on Saturday.
Police sources said they ascertained that the restaurant owner, Mohammed Yousuf Qureshi, instructed manager Krishna Sagar and four waiters to beat up Liyaqat and his friends, Mohammed Shafi and Mohammed Kamran.
CCTV camera footage, that went viral on social media, showed Krishna Sagar and the four others holding down the victim and thrashing him.
The restaurant manager called the police, who reached the hotel and tried to separate the two groups. The police also recovered four liquor bottles from Liyaqat’s car.
“Even as our constables tried to stop both the groups, they continued to fight. We alerted additional forces and took both the groups into custody and recorded their statements,” said Panjagutta inspector B. Durga Rao.
Liyaqat’s family members alleged that the hotel staff thrashed him again at the police station.
“My brother Liyaqat, along with his friends, collected the parcel. He asked for extra curd and he was ready to pay extra for it. The police are concealing the facts. The hotel staff beat Liyaqat, Kamran and Shafi at the police station too,” Mohammed Sarvar, the victim’s brother, said.
However, the police said that after giving his statement, Liyaqat complained of uneasiness in breathing and he was admitted to a hospital in Somajiguda, where his pulse deteriorated and he later succumbed to internal injuries to his chest, ribs and stomach suffered in the fight.
Panjagutta police claimed that after Liyaqat fell unconscious, they performed CPR on him, but could not revive him.
“An ambulance also arrived and he was shifted to a private hospital in Somajiguda. Doctors examined him and declared him dead after a while,” inspector Durga Rao said.
Following the victim’s death, AIMIM MLC Mirza Rahmat Baig Quadri visited the Punjagutta police station and urged the cops to do justice to Liyaqat’s family members and take stern action against the accused.
The police said they have taken Krishna Sagar and four other restaurant staff into custody. “We registered a case of murder under Section 302 of the IPC,” Durga Rao said.
Following an autopsy, the victim’s body was handed over to his relatives.
Senior Special Branch (SB) officers examined the CCTV footage and recorded the statements of the victim’s friends Shafi and Kamran and family members and other police personnel on night duty.
Police commissioner Anand said that a parallel inquiry, based on a complaint by the victim’s family, had shown that Pangautta sub-inspcetor Shiva Shankar and constable Shankar had showd dereliction of duty, a police officer said.
