The incident occurred at about 3 pm on Sunday near the 2 BHK Police Housing Society at Chanchalguda Cross Roads, where a Ganesh immersion programme and community food distribution were under way. Police said their preliminary information indicated that material had been thrown from the housing complex, but investigators were still examining exactly how the packet reached the area and who was responsible.
Charminar Zone Deputy Commissioner of Police Kiran Khare said the material appeared to be non-vegetarian food waste and cautioned against circulating unverified claims about its contents. Police accounts described the packet as containing bones and food waste, while protesters alleged that meat had been deliberately thrown close to cooking vessels and religious offerings.
Officers took Mohammad Imran Qureshi, Arshiya Begum and Sameena, all residents of the housing society, into custody for questioning. Police said further legal action would depend on the findings of the investigation and the evidence collected at the scene.
A case was registered by Madannapet police after a complaint from an organiser of the Ganesh pandal. The complaint led police to invoke provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita dealing with promoting enmity between groups and deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings, along with the provision governing acts carried out by several persons with a common intention.
Members of Hindu organisations and BJP leaders gathered at Chanchalguda after news of the packet spread, alleging that the act was intended to defile food being distributed as part of the religious programme. Demonstrators raised slogans and demanded stringent action against anyone found responsible.
Police deployed additional personnel in the locality as a precaution and worked to disperse the gathering without further confrontation. Khare said the situation was brought under control and traffic movement, which had been affected during the protest, later returned to normal.
The police version stopped short of confirming several claims made during the protest. Officials said the nature of the discarded material and the circumstances in which it was thrown or dropped were subjects of investigation. The material was also reported to have been sent for forensic examination, a step expected to help establish its composition.
Khare appealed to residents and social media users not to spread rumours or unverified information while the inquiry was continuing. The warning came as images and claims about the episode circulated online, some describing the material more specifically than police had established publicly.
The dispute arose during a period of heightened police deployment connected with Ganesh festivities across Hyderabad. Local authorities have been managing immersion processions, traffic diversions and crowd control around numerous pandals, with additional attention to areas regarded as communally sensitive.
At Madannapet, organisers had set up the Annadanam programme alongside the Ganesh celebrations, offering food to devotees and residents. The discovery of the packet close to the distribution point prompted complaints from participants, who contacted police and demanded an inquiry.
Police said the three detained residents had not been convicted of any offence and that responsibility would be determined through investigation. Officials did not publicly establish a motive for the alleged act, and there was no verified finding that the packet was deliberately aimed at the food or religious offerings.
A precautionary flag march was later conducted in the Madannapet area by the Rapid Action Force and Hyderabad City Police as part of measures to prevent further tension. Additional personnel remained visible around the locality following the protest.
