Hyderabad: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Akbaruddin Owaisi on Tuesday was booked for allegedly threatening a police inspector, who asked him to wrap up an election meeting.
Akbaruddin allegedly threatened the policeman after he was asked to stop his speech as he was ‘exceeding the permitted time’ as per the Model Code of Conduct.
The AIMIM leader, who was addressing a campaign in Hyderabad’s Lalitabagh asked the policeman to “leave” the venue, implying that if he made a “signal” to his supporter, the inspector would be forced to “run” from the place.
“Do you think that after facing knives and bullets, I got weak? Still, there’s lots of courage in me. Five minutes are left and I’ll speak for five minutes and no one can stop me. If I give a signal then you’ll have to run. Shall we make him run? This is what I’m saying they come like this to weaken us,” he said during his speech.
Notably, Akbaruddin is an Assembly poll candidate from the Chandrayangutta constituency. The seat has been a stronghold of the AIMIM, with the party winning from this segment in the last two Assembly elections — in 2014 and 2018.
Subsequently, on the complaint of the Santosh Nagar SHO, a case was registered against Akbaruddin Owaisi. The case has been booked under section 353 of IPC and sections 153 (a), 506, 505 (2) & 125 of the RP Act.
Asaduddin Owaisi reacts
Meanwhile, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi said they will ask the Election Commission to conduct an enquiry into the incident wherein Santoshnagar inspector asked the party’s Chandrayangutta candidate Akbaruddin Owaisi to wrap up the meeting before the permitted time.
Addressing the media on Wednesday, Asaduddin said the inspector walked up to the dias five minutes before the scheduled time accorded in the permission letter, and asked to leader to stop the public address.
“What was the need for the inspector to come on dais and tell Akbaruddin to stop the speech. Election Commission officials are monitoring the programme. Cameras are there and everything is recorded. Then what was the need for the inspector to come and tell us to wrap up,” Asaduddin asked.
Polling on November 30
Telangana will go to polls in a single phase on November 30. The counting of votes for Telangana, along with those of four other poll-bound states, has been scheduled for December 3.
In the previous Assembly election in 2018, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), previously known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), won 88 of the 119 seats, hogging 47.4 per cent of the total vote share.
The Congress emerged distant second with just 19 seats.
(With inputs from news agencies)
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