Watch: Guests harassed by midnight police check at Telangana’s Hilltop Mrugavani resort

There are about 20 rooms in the resort. Generally people from Hyderabad and other places, who visit the Srisailam temple, book rooms at the resort.

Nagarkurnool: Guests at the Hilltop Mrugavani, Eagalapenta on the Srisailam road had a harrowing time on Saturday midnight, when the local police knocked at their rooms and checked their antecedents.

There are about 20 rooms in the resort. Generally people from Hyderabad and other places, who visit the Srisailam temple, book rooms at the resort. The police team is said to have suddenly barged into the resort at 1 am and despite the resort staff asking the police to check the Aadhaar cards and other details in the register, they insisted on checking the rooms personally and began knocking at the rooms at the odd time, resort staff said.

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Arani Majumdar, one of the guests who was also checked by the police, posted about the disturbing experience on X:

“Policemen knocking down our door and harassing and moral policing us at 1.30 am at Hilltop Mrugavani, Eegalpenta. No female police in sight, they are shouting at women. We are feeling extremely unsafe and insecure. Help…”

@TelanganaCMO @TelanganaCOPs @revanth_anumula @KTRBRS policemen knocking down our door and harassing and moral policing us at 1.30am at Hilltop Mrugavani, Eegalapanta. No female police in sight, they are shouting at women. We are feeling extremely unsafe and insecure. Help!

— Arani Majumder (@AraniMajumder) June 22, 2024

Tagging Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and others, Majumdar further tweeted: “Please help us understand this law under your administration where State police can harass women at night by barging into their rooms…”

Video part 1 @timesofindia @htTweets @republic @IndianExpress @EconomicTimes @TheSiasatDaily pic.twitter.com/unuy5mWDMg

— Arani Majumder (@AraniMajumder) June 22, 2024

Video part 2 pic.twitter.com/kdQFJJRZ4X

— Arani Majumder (@AraniMajumder) June 22, 2024

Speaking to Telangana Today, Arani Majumdar further said “I am living in Telangana for eight years now but never encountered such behaviour by the police. The police officer was talking about Indian culture and moral policing us that unmarried men and women should not stay in a room. Hotel management assured us that they would take legal action based on our complaint.”

It is also learned that last week, the local police had demanded rooms but were informed that all the rooms were booked. Bearing a grudge against the management, the police again arrived at the place on Saturday midnight to check the guest antecedents, according to reports.

Following the harrowing incident, a few people vacated their rooms and left the place while a few others were staying back as the checkout time was at noon.

Eagalapenta Sub-Inspector Veeramallu said there were instructions from senior officers to conduct surprise checks. “As part of regular duty, we checked the antecedents of the guests. In one room, there were two men and two women and when checked only one individual had identity proof,” Veeramallu said.

The hotel staff also did not collect the ID proofs of all the four guests. They were instructed to collect the identity proofs of all guests, especially if they were unmarried, he added.