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Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen Member of Legislative Assembly Akbaruddin Owaisi, accused of delivering a hate speech has been sent to police custody for five days.
The investigating team had sought police custody of Owaisi for five days to question him and the court on Friday allowed their application.
With inputs from PTI
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Owaisi will now be questioned in connection in police custody. He was arrested three days ago, and was remanded to judicial custody at first.
Police officials say that they have several questions to ask Owaisi. "These would include the intent behind such a speech and the provocation to deliver it, among other questions," said a source.
Owaisi faces very tough charges against him that include inciting communal tension and also waging war against the state which attracts up to 10 years in jail.
Owaisi's legal team is awaiting the hearing by the Andhra Pradesh high court. Owaisi had challenged the police action against him and had sought quashing of all charges.
Meanwhile, tension prevailed in areas surrounding the historic Charminar in Hyderabad after suspected MIM supporters pelted stones at police protesting the arrest of Owaisi.
Scores of protesters pelted stones at cops after the Friday prayers at Mecca Masjid near Charminar, prompting police to lob teargas shells to disperse the mob, police said.
"The protestors have been dispersed. The situation has been brought under control and it is peaceful now," Hyderabad Police Commissioner Anurag Sharma told the media.
The police was in the process of booking cases in connection with the stone-pelting incident.
Sharma said the police were verifying the CCTV footage, he said, adding the action will definitely be initiated against the stone-pelters.
"Patrolling has been intensified in all sensitive areas of Old City as a precautionary measure," a police officer said.
The police had already made elaborate security arrangements in Old City, which is said to be a stronghold of MIM following the arrest of Owaisi.
After the prayers, the protesters raising pro-MIM slogans took to the streets near Hussaini Alam and Shahalibanda localities demanding the immediate release of Owaisi, who is currently under judicial custody and lodged in Adilabad District Jail.
The police arrested Owaisi, leader of MIM legislature party in the Legislative Assembly from Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad on January 8 in connection with an alleged hate speech case booked against him by the Nirmal Town police.
Owaisi, accused of sedition and criminal conspiracy for his "hate speech" also faces similar cases registered by Nizamabad Town police besides Osmania University police in Hyderabad.
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