Staff Reporter
VIJAYAWADA: Tension prevailed at New Open Restaurant and Bar at CSI Complex on Gopal Reddy Road when a few miscreants ransacked the restaurant and set a portion of it on fire on Saturday afternoon. Fire tenders extinguished the fire. The restaurant management lodged a complaint with the Suryaraopet police accusing Bishop of the CSI Church Daiva Aseervadam and others with resorting to the arson. The police registered a case under Section 427 of the IPC.
Reacting to this, Mr. Aseervadam, who was on relay hunger strike for the last four days demanding that the bar be closed, alleged that the bar management was threatening them with dire consequences and asking them to withdraw the agitation. Mr. Aseervadam said that the complex was given to Peddi Balaram on lease for 30 years in 1986. According to the lease agreement, the complex or a portion of it should not be used for bar and cinema theatre, he said. “Now, they have violated the agreement. Since it hurts our sentiments, we are staging a dharna in a peaceful way.” Representatives of the bar, however, maintained that the bar was opened only after taking permission from government departments.
Two drowned
Two boys – Bonguluri Sunil (14) and Kota Nikhil (14) – were washed away in Pulleru rivulet, which is spate, at Yakaluru Revu near Totlavalluru on Saturday.
