Bajrang Dal vandalises restaurant, mall in Hyderabad's IT hub on Valentine’s Day

Videos show a group of young men entering Inorbit mall in the city's IT sector and damaging property.

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A group of people, with some of them wearing saffron scarves around their necks, indulged in vandalism in Hyderabad’s IT hub Kondapur area on Friday, which was Valentine’s Day.

The mob, which mostly comprised youths is reportedly from Bajrang Dal, an outfit known for its opposition to Valentine’s Day year after year.

In a video of the incident shared on Twitter, the miscreants can be seen shouting “Band karo, band karo, Valentine’s day band karo! (Stop Valentine’s Day)” inside a restaurant as they burst the red balloons meant for decoration. They climb on chairs, removing the balloons from the ceiling and bursting them. One of them also takes a placard kept on a table and tears it.

At one point, a man in a grey shirt who appears to be working at the restaurant, comes and waves at them to leave. The group eventually does, but not before one of them climbs up on a chair near the entrance to remove and burst the balloons on the ceiling.

Bajrang dal workers vandalize shops in Hyderabad's Gachibowli area (hitech City). The state police, which was so proactive in curbing anti-CAA/NRC protests, couldn't prevent vandalism from anti-social elements. Video courtesy: @Asifyarrkhan pic.twitter.com/TH6WLYZXiH — Yunus Lasania (@lasaniayunus) February 14, 2020

The group also indulged in vandalism in Inorbit mall in Hyderabad. A couple of videos show the same men having an argument with staff at the mall staff as they try to prevent them from raising slogans and destroying the mall's property.

'Bharat Mata ki jai' slogans can also be heard in the visuals.

Quite surprised that #BajrangDal goons went ahead and destroyed a mall's assets in #Gachibowli area, which is quite close to the HQ of @cyberabadpolice. Yet no arrests were made. Security blip on #ValentinesDay in #Hyderabad. pic.twitter.com/HmtBMlftIV — krishnamurthy (@krishna0302) February 14, 2020

Madhapur Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Shyam Prasad Rao, speaking to TNM said, "We saw the video of vandalism on Twitter, we don't know where it happened and are verifying the source of the video. If it happened in our jurisdiction, we will definitely take action against the people who indulged in it."

Madhapur Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Venkateshwar Rao said, "So far, no one has reported the incident. Based on the videos, we are going to register a case against those who indulged in this vandalism."

Read: Bajrang Dal's Valentine's Day plan: Round up couples, observe Pulwama Martyrs' Day