Eyewitness account: First day at LuLu Mall in Hyderabad saw looting, widespread littering

Hyderabad: The grand opening of the LuLu Mall took an unexpected turn as unruly groups of shoppers unleashed chaos within the premises, even leading to the looting of food items. Disturbing visuals of partially consumed and empty food products scattered on the mall’s shelves made their way across various social media platforms, leaving people in widespread disbelief.

Situated in Kukatpally, LuLu Mall marked its inauguration on September 27 with great enthusiasm, attracting large crowds eager to explore this expansive shopping destination. However, the celebration quickly turned chaotic.

Kiran Sahoo, a social media influencer who runs a page called FoodHud, was a witness to the chaos that happened inside Lulu Mall on the day of its opening. In fact, the first video of the crowd that went viral on social media was shot by Kiran herself.

Talking to Newsmeter, Kiran said, “That video was not even 50 per cent off what I have seen there in the mall that day. For the inauguration, only influencers were invited but later general public joined in the crowd. I could not record the entire thing as I was hesitating to shoot the faces of the people and already a couple of them were arguing with me about recording the rush.”

Half-eaten food packets and beverages littered the mall’s floors. According to witnesses and security personnel, a faction of the crowd turned destructive, specifically targeting packaged goods and beverages. Shelves displaying a variety of products were looted, with the contents of numerous items opened, consumed, and carelessly discarded within the mall.

Samosas, biscuits, soft drinks, fruits, and other consumables fell victim to the rampage as customers devoured or partially consumed the products before leaving them strewn across the mall’s floors. The havoc extended to bottles, empty wrappers, and various discarded food-related packaging littered throughout the premises.

Kiran further added that people were never really interested in visiting Manjeera Mall but with LuLu Mall taking over, and with the huge amount of marketing that happened, people were very much curious to see what the mall is all about.

“I don’t know what made everyone throng to the mall that day. There were no specific offers or discounts. Just that people wanted to explore something that they thought is different. I stay in Madhapur which is pretty close to the mall and it took me around an hour and 45 minutes to reach the mall. The traffic reminded me so much of Bangalore that day,” added Kiran Sahoo.

Despite the presence of security measures, including CCTV cameras, the mall administration failed to prevent this chaotic episode. On-site authorities struggled to regain control of the situation until it became too much to control both inside and outside the mall.