The burning down of six cars parked in the lanes of Ghansi Bazar near Moosabowli in the wee hours of Monday hit Sainath Munigala hard.
He lost his Ford Icon car, a 2002 model bought in second hand market mainly for the purpose of hospital visit of his ailing grandmother.
Sainath’s car was set on fire in Gola Galli. “Only I know how hard I worked to earn the Rs 80,000. Now there is nothing left but the engine. This is all a part of bad politics and my car is just collateral damage,” a visibly fuming Sainath said.
He alleged that this was a retaliation to the violence that erupted near the Charminar. “There are properties owned by Muslims too. Why didn’t anything happen to them?” questioned Sainath, adding that no MIM leader visited him or any other victim after incident took place.
He alleged that MIM leaders had provoked the violence to create differences among people in Old City.
“When will there be an end to all this? My grandmother falls sick very often and now I have no means to take her to the hospital.
The government too has remained a mute spectator,” said Sainath lamented. Out of all victims, only Sainath’s car was uninsure. As it was old, insurance agents advised him against insuring it.
“Where was Asaduddin Owaisi when the incident happened? Where are Pasha Quadri and the others? If they call themselves secular, how come they only go and meet Muslim victims?” he questioned angrily.
He said people are used to such incidents as they now became a common occurrence in Old City.
Inaction of fire services
Sainath and his family were alerted by neighbours after they saw his car in flames at around 2.40 am.
“The fire engine came after everything was damaged. The station is just a few kilometres away in Moghulpura and had they come on time, my car could have been saved,” he rued.
Kiran Agarwal, another victim in the area who lost two cars also said that when he called the fire station, the personnel grilled him with so many questions that he hung up.
“We doused the flames ourselves with the help of neighbours.
No fire engine had come here,” mentioned Subodh Agarwal, another victim of the arson, who also lost two cars.