Cops' pre-dawn swoop ends TJAC rally before it begins

HYDERABAD: A visibly rattled state government launched its first severe crackdown on a planned protest against it with city police storming

Telangana Joint Action Committee

(

TJAC

) chairman Prof M Kodandaram's residence in Tarnaka to arrest him at 3.30 am.

Hours later, a student leader attempted to set himself ablaze in protest on the steps of the famous Arts College building in Osmania University campus even as barricades and check-posts were set up at several locations in the city and on roads leading to Hyderabad.

Despite the crackdown on TJAC, Prof Kodandaram, after his release in the evening around 6.45 pm, vowed to continue his struggle for justice for the unemployed in the sta te. He also charged police with attacking his house and using undue force to arrest him.

The ruling

Telangana Rashtra Samiti

deployed Palla Rajeswar Reddy to present its case on the pre-dawn swo op on Kodandaram's house.The TRS whip in the legislative council declared that TRS government will not tolerate attempts by anyone to disturb law and order in the state. During the day , police contin ued its crackdown on students and TJAC activists trying to organise rallies in several districts and other parts of the city .

At 2.30 am, at least 300 police men led by East Zone DCP A Ravinder reached Prof Kodandaram's house and asked him to surrender. TJAC chairman's repeated requests that he be allowed time till 6am failed to cut ice with cops. Even as the conversation dragged on, a group of policemen were instructed to force their way into the house. When Kodandaram questioned the hurry to enforce a preventive arrest, the DCP said action was not time-bound and arrest would be enforced immediately .

After several clumsy attempts to open the entrance door, police managed to break in and bundled Kodandaram and his associates into police vehicles. Kodandaram was taken to the Kamatipura police station while 447 others were arrested in related crackdowns in other parts of the city.

At around 3pm, Kodandaram's wife Susheela met Hyderabad police commissioner M Mahendar Reddy and sought information on his whereabouts.She informed him how cops damaged her house. Later, she tried to meet Governor ESL Narasimhan at the

Raj Bhavan

, but was denied entry .

At Nampally criminal courts, advocates staged a protest against the TRS government and burnt an effigy of the CM. As they attempted to march to Kamatipura police station, they too were taken into custody by police. The arrest send ripples in OU, Nizam College, Secunderabad PG College and other educational institutions.