HYDERABAD: Police on Tuesday took scores of Bhagyanagar Ganesh Utsav Samiti (BGUS) members into preventive custody as they tried to take out a bike rally on Tank Bund without authorities’ permission.
The BGUS had organised the rally to press the State government to make arrangements for the immersion of Ganesh idols in Hussainsagar on September 9.
The BGUS members gathered on PVNR Marg on Tuesday morning to take out the rally towards Tank Bund. However, police had already been deployed at the spot to foil the rally. They stopped BGUS members and their supporters from taking out a bike rally as they had not secured permission from the police.
After a heated argument, a scuffle broke out between BGUS members and the police. BGUS general secretary Bhagavanth Rao, vice-president M Rama Raju, and others were taken into custody by police and shifted to Ramgopalpet and other police stations.
A senior police officer said they had not received any application seeking permission for the bike rally. “Since the Assembly session will be in progress, such mass gatherings are prohibited within a four-km radius around the Assembly,” he explained.
BGUS representatives launched an indefinite hunger strike at Baheti Bhawan in Siddiamber Bazar on Tuesday evening demanding that the government make arrangements to allow immersion of idols in Hussainsagar.