TIRUMALA, July 6: An uneasy calm prevailed on Tirumala hills, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, which witnessed high drama last evening in which the security guards of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) staged a `rasta roko' for about three hours paralysing vehicular traffic on the hills and also on the ghat roads.

The trouble sparked off when hundreds of security personnel came out on the streets demanding the release of four of their colleagues, who had been arrested by the Tirumala II town police on Friday night.

The Tirumala police, as part of the division-wide drive against anti-social elements, raided one of the TTD choultries, where they caught four security guards, who were gambling. It was alleged that one of them was in an inebraited condition.

All the four were arrested by the police and were taken into custody.Angered by the incident, the security guards resorted to `rasta roko' at the No II gate point opposite to the II town police station on hills for four hours, demanding the unconditional release of their colleagues.

As a result the vehicular traffic between Tirupati and Tirumala came to a halt for more than three hours.

After an hour or so, the security personnel, not content with the release of their colleagues, resumed their agitation demanding the suspension of II town police station sub-inspector Sivashankar and marched to the VGO office located in front of the filter house and ransacked it. The security personnel were joined by the disgruntled health workers.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.