MLA Raja Singh, arrested again under stringent law, has 101 cases against him

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Police on Thursday arrested T Raja Singh, the suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator, under the state’s stringent Preventive Detention Act, the second time that the legislator has been arrested this week.

Raja Singh was arrested on Tuesday as well for allegedly making derogatory comments against Prophet Mohammed, which sparked protests in Hyderabad, and led the BJP to suspend the Goshamahal legislator. But a judge released him on bail hours later on the ground that the police didn’t issue him notice as required under the law before the arrest.

On Thursday, police officers from Hyderabad’s Shah Inayathgunj and Mangalhat police stations went to the legislator’s office at Mangalhat and served notice on him before taking him into custody.

In a statement, the Hyderabad Police said Raja Singh has been detained under Preventive Detention Act on orders of police commissioner CV Anand and lodged in Central Prison at Cherlapally.

The 1986 law empowers the authorities to detain habitual offenders for upto three months, which can be extended from time to time by three months. Under the law, essentially aimed at bootleggers, dacoits, drug-offenders, goondas and land-grabbers, the detention orders have to be approved by an advisory board.

Thursday’s police statement described the BJP legislator as a “rowdy sheeter of Managalhat police station.

It said: “The records disclose that out of the total of 101 criminal cases registered against him since 2004, he was involved in (18) communal offences in different police station of Hyderabad city police commissionare apart from several other cases”.

As the police team was taking away the legislator on Thursday, Singh’s supporters raised slogans against the police and tried to resist the arrest by the police. Heavy police deployment was made at Mangalhat and surrounding areas to prevent any untoward incidents.

The Hyderabad Police statement said Singh habitually delivered provocative and inflammatory speeches and drove a wedge between communities leading to public disorder. “In a video posted on a YouTube channel, he made blasphemous comments against Prophet Mohammed and his lifestyle,” police commissioner CV Anand said in the statement.

The MLA also allegedly threatened to post further speeches and videos on this issue on YouTube. “Any venomous hate speech has the potential of provoking individuals to commit acts of riot, indiscriminate violence, terrorism, etc. When the video went viral, protests erupted in different parts of Hyderabad city and other parts of the Telangana e and drove a wedge between communities and disturbed the peaceful nature of Hyderabad and Telangana state,” the top police officer said.

Hyderabad police officers are also pulling out older cases where action hadn’t been taken so far. A police officer said a notice has also been issued to Raja Singh in connection with his alleged hate speeches and provocative songs during a Sri Ram Navami procession on April 10. The notice was issued under section 41 of the criminal procedure code which empowers the police to summon suspects.

“The cases were filed against him under 153 (A) (Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion); 295 (A) (Making comments in words or in writing with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class), 504 (intentional insult with an intent to breach of peace) and 505 (2) (making statements to promote enmity),” a police officer from Shah Inyayatgunj police station said.

The Hyderabad police on Thursday also moved the high court, challenging the bail granted by the Nampally metropolitan magistrate court. Police said the appeal is expected to come up for hearing on Friday.

Meanwhile, the old city of Hyderabad remained peaceful on Thursday due to heavy deployment of police forces in all the sensitive areas. While shops and other commercial establishments remained open, the schools and colleges were closed till week-end as a precautionary measure.

There were sporadic incidents of violence late on Wednesday night, when some Muslim protestors took out a procession at Asha Talkies area of Shah Ali Banda demanding action against Raja Singh. They pelted stones at the police who tried to stop the procession.

The police resorted to lathi-charge to disperse the agitators and took around 30 of them, who were pelting stones, into custody.

In view of the special prayers at Mecca Masjid on Friday and the ensuing Ganesh Chavithi festival commencing the next week, the police have stepped up security measures in the old city. The Rapid Action Force is already deployed in the old city to handle trouble-mongers and intensified patrolling is also being done. Senior police officials are monitoring the situation, a police official said