Owaisi gets VIP status in jail, but faces more trouble

An Adilabad court on Wednesday directed the authorities of the Adilabad jail – where Akbaruddin Owaisi is currently lodged -- to treat the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader as a VIP prisoner.

The jail authorities will now have to agree to Owaisi's demands for a different mattress and a cot. He will receive home-cooked food and may even get a separate television set.

Owaisi, who was arrested for his alleged hate speech, had complained about the lack of facilities at the Adilabad jail. He had complained that he had a hip injury and could not sleep on the mattress provided to him.

He demanded home food and a television set in his cell. Owaisi had refused to watch TV with the rest of the inmates.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a fresh warrant was issued against Owaisi, over the alleged abuse of a district collector in Andhra Pradesh's Medak district in 2005.

A team of the Patencheru police is headed to Adilabad to arrest him, again.

The Patencheru police want Owaisi to be shifted to the Sangareddy jail in Medak district. The police will have to inform the court about the fresh warrant and seek Owaisi's arrest.

Earlier, the Adilabad court had sent Owaisi back to judicial custody till January 22, after the police stated that they had completed their interrogation.

The results of the interrogation will be known and a chargesheet filed only after the police get the voice samples of Owaisi.

The MIM leader has claimed that the voice in the hate speech has been 'doctored'.

In 2005, Owaisi had got into a heated argument with Medak District Collector A K Singhal over a prayer site. In the course of the argument, Owaisi had allegedly pushed the collector, and the latter had filed a case against him.

A court had granted the MIM leader bail in connection to the assault case in 2009.

Owaisi is facing another probe by the Kazipet police in connection with the hate speech. The magistrate had ordered a probe following a petition filed by advocate Kotha Ravi who had alleged that Owaisi was trying to incite communal tension.