Hyderabad: Hours after a video of two young men offering prasadam allegedly mixed with ganja in front of a Shiva temple during Maha Shivaratri celebrations went viral on social media, the Falaknuma police arrested them on Tuesday, February 17.
The two accused – C Charan, 19, and Vijay Krishna, 21 – are residents of RN Colony in Falaknuma. Both men work in a local gym. A case has been registered, police said.
The Instagram reel was recorded in Shamshabad on Sunday. The duo is heard saying that they came to offer “prasadam” to Lord Shiva, bragging that while the devotees offer coconuts, they will serve “something different.”
One of them is seen holding a narcotic drug, suspected to be ganja, in his hand.
The video gained traction after it caught the attention of Hyderabad City Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar, who flagged the video on his X account.
“Maha Shivaratri is a symbol of devotion… a path to liberation. On such a sacred and holy occasion, displaying intoxicating substances in the name of offering prasadam is an extremely disgraceful act. It is a perverse behaviour.”
“Once the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act are invoked, you may have to regret it for the rest of your life,” he warned the youth.
