Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi was slapped with the charge of ‘sedition’ by the district police even as he was remanded to 14 days’ judicial custody by the Judicial First Class Magistrate, Nirmal, K. Agesh Kumar, on Wednesday in the case related to the purported hate speech he delivered at Nirmal on December 22 last. Section 124 A of the Indian Penal Code dealing with sedition is among the five fresh sections that have been added in the remand case diary by the police investigating the matter.
More facts
Karimnagar Range Deputy Inspector General of Police R. Bhima Naik said the new charges under Sections 124 A, 120 B, 295 A, 188 and 505 of IPC had been included in the remand case diary as more facts emerged during investigations into the case carried out on Tuesday night.
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He said Owaisi, who was initially charged with Sections 153 A and 121 of IPC, was subjected to questioning for about an hour at the Nirmal Rural police station after he was brought from Hyderabad.
The JFCM rejected a plea of the Nirmal police for grant of seven days’ police custody of the legislator while producing him before the magistrate at 5.25 a.m. Another petition filed later in the day requesting for the same was posted for Thursday by Mr. Agesh Kumar who also asked the advocates of the MIM leader to file a counter on the same day.
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The JFCM also dismissed petitions filed by advocates representing Owaisi pleading for shifting him to Chanchalguda prison in Hyderabad in view of his health condition. He was of the view that proper medical aid for the MIM leader could be provided at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Adilabad.
Having reached Adilabad encircled by security personnel at 7.30 a.m., the MIM legislator was lodged in the high security district jail. Police beefed up security, which included induction of the Rapid Action Force (RAF) as a standby.
Protesters held
Meanwhile, police arrested seven protesters at Nirmal who indulged in incidents of stone throwing during the day resulting in damage to a couple of OB vans belonging to national TV news channels and two RTC buses.
Bandh
The district bandh called by the MIM to protest the arrest of the legislator was a failure barring closure of shops by shopkeepers belonging to a particular community at Bhainsa town.