Hate speech: police begin questioning of Owaisi

Police today began interrogation of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi, booked for alleged sedition and criminal conspiracy for his hate speech, a day after getting his five-day custody from a court in Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh.

Nirmal town police in Adilabad district, who had registered a case against Owaisi, arrested him from Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad on January 8. He was later remanded in 14-day judicial custody. A court in Nirmal town had yesterday sent the 42-year-old legislator from Chandrayanagutta in Hyderabad to police remand to facilitate his questioning.

Accordingly, a police team took Owaisi's custody from the Adilabad district jail and brought him to Armed Reserve Office here where he was being questioned in the presence of one of his lawyers and a doctor, police sources said.

FIRs were registered at Adilabad and Nizamabad districts after the legislator had used allegedly inflammatory and derogatory language against a particular community during his public speeches last month. Subsequently, the Hyderabad police booked the MIM leader following a court directive while police in Kadapa district registered another case against him yesterday