Asaduddin Owaisi (left) and his brother Akbar: setback.
IANS/Hyderabad
A court in Andhra Pradesh yesterday dismissed the bail petition of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi in a seven-year-old case and another court extended the judicial custody of his brother Akbaruddin Owaisi in a hate speech case.
Asaduddin Owaisi is a Lok Sabha member from Hyderabad while his younger brother is a member of the Andhra Pradesh state legislative assembly.
The MP received another setback when a court in Sangareddy town in Medak district near Hyderabad dismissed his bail plea.
Asaduddin Owaisi had on Monday appeared before the court, seeking recall of a non-bailable warrant in connection with a case booked against him in 2005.
The court, however, dismissed his plea and sent him to judicial custody for two weeks. The MP was later shifted to a jail in Sangareddy.
Asaduddin Owaisi and other MIM leaders were booked by police when they tried to prevent officials from demolishing a place of worship for expanding a road at Mutangi village in the same district.
Shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed yesterday, while buses of the state-owned Road Transport Corporation (RTC) and auto-rickshaws were off the roads in the old city and other Muslim-majority areas in Hyderabad.
The usually busy markets around the historic Charminar wore a deserted look. Police and paramilitary forces were deployed in the communally sensitive areas to prevent violence.
The shutdown was partial in Sangareddy and other towns of Medak district, Karimnagar, Adilabad and other districts in Telangana and also in Anantapur in Rayalaseema region.
MIM general secretary Ahmed Pasha Khadri said the party has not called for a shutdown but people were voluntarily keeping their shops and business establishments closed to show solidarity with the Owaisis.
In another blow to the party, a court in Nirmal town of Adilabad district extended Akbar Owaisi’s judicial custody until February 5 in a hate speech case. His 14-day custody ended yesterday.
The court extended his judicial remand by another two weeks. The MIM leader was taken to the district jail in Adilabad town, about 90km from Nirmal.
Akbar Owaisi was arrested on January 8 for making a hate speech at a public meeting at Nirmal on December 22. He was sent to judicial custody the next day.
A member of the assembly from Chandrayangutta constituency in Hyderabad, Akbar Owaisi is facing charges of sedition, waging war against the nation and criminal conspiracy.
After arresting Akbar Owaisi, police had re-opened the 2005 case against the powerful Owaisi family, which has dominated Hyderabad politics for over four decades.