Hyderabad police tighten vigil on Sankranti cockfights
HYDERABAD: Hyderabad is gearing up for Sankranti celebrations. While many residents working in the city have left for their native places, some groups are quietly making arrangements to organise cockfights within the city limits.
Farmhouses, agricultural fields and convention centres on the city outskirts are emerging as preferred venues for these events. Organisers are projecting them as family gatherings to avoid police attention, sources said.
Sankranti is one of the most widely celebrated festivals in the two Telugu states, and in Andhra Pradesh, cockfighting is traditionally associated with the festival. However, the growing trend of organising such events around Hyderabad has put the police on alert.
With reports of cockfighting increasing in peripheral areas, the Special Operations Team (SOT) has stepped up surveillance on farmhouses, agricultural lands and convention centres. Police are gathering inputs and are preparing to book organisers after assessing the nature of parties being held.
Apart from cockfights, some venues are also hosting betting, card games and recording dances, police said. Demand for fighting cocks rises sharply during the festival season, prompting some betting organisers to rear birds in areas such as Keesar, Hayathnagar, Maheshwaram and Moinabad on the city outskirts.
At the start of the Sankranti season, birds worth several lakhs of rupees are bought and transported from Hyderabad to Andhra Pradesh. In some cases, events are also being organised within the city, prompting heightened vigilance by the police.
