Hyderabad: The Kodangal police of Vikarabad district on Saturday arrested two persons, D. Hanmanthu and Bairi Naresh, for making derogatory remarks on Lord Ayyappa. Protests had been held across the state after the remarks went viral on social media.
Vikarabad district superintendent of police S. Koti Reddy, said the duo had given the speech during a religious programme organised in Ravulapally in Kodangal on December 19. “We arrested the accused from Warangal district within 24 hours of the complaint being lodged against them and remanded them to judicial custody,” Koti Reddy said.
Koti Reddy said that after registering complaints against Naresh, police had started a manhunt to nab him as he had been absconding for the past two days. By tracing his social media accounts, he was taken into custody while he was going to Hyderabad from Khammam at Warangal and shifted to the Kodangal police station. Naresh was presented before the court and sent to Parigi sub-jail on 14-day remand.
Vikarabad police has warned organisations not to entertain derogatory speeches against other religions, Anyone encouraging those who hurt the sentiments of the devotees and followers of Lord Ayyappa will be prosecuted, the SP warned.
Earlier on Saturday, Lord Ayyappa devotees and members of Hindu organisations, along with political leaders, staged a protest, held dharnas, and burnt the effigies of Bairi Naresh, in the erstwhile Warangal and Karimnagar districts. They demanded that the PD Act be imposed on Naresh immediately.
Naresh is a native of Sriramulapalli in Kamalapur mandal in Huzurabad constituency. Hindu organisations and Ayyappa devotees had lodged 16 cases across the state and sought his immediate arrest.
In the old Karimnagar district, BRS MLA Dr S. Sanjay Kumar extended his support to the protest staged by the Ayyappa devotees and participated in their dharna in Jagtial. Condemning the comments made by Naresh, the MLA demanded that strict action be taken as per law against him.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) staged a dharna at the Ambedkar circle in Huzurabad. In Karimnagar, the BJP, under the leadership of district unit president G. Krishna Reddy, staged a protest with black at Court Chowrasta.
