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Hyderabad’s Bollarum Police station – a former sub-jail where Gandhiji was once held

The Bollarum Police Station in Hyderabad which has witnessed several historic events including Operation Polo in 1948 when Hyderabad was annexed to India by the Armed Forces (Pic. Courtesy shobollaram)

Bollarum Police Station is one of the stations in India that has witnessed several important historical events over decades. It is one among the more than 100 stations located in Hyderabad that held Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi when he visited the city when the 1942 Quit India Movement was at its peak.

Gandhiji was holding a meeting at the Lakshmi Ramalingam Mudaliar Government High School’s auditorium, when he was taken into custody by the British and whisked away to the building which is now the Bollarum Police Station.

Built in the 18th Century by the British using lime, it is a sub-jail which has undergone several changes to become a modern-day police station today. Still there are some remnants of the past there like the stables which housed horses used by the British. The cannons and brass bells had to be removed during renovations.

By the 20th Century the sub-jail had become a police station.

This station also played a critical part in Operation Polo which took place in September 1948 in which the Indian Armed Forces took control of Nizam-ruled princely state of Hyderabad and annexed it with India.