Suspended BJP MLA Raja Singh arrested, sent to jail for anti-Prophet remarks

Suspended Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Raja Singh was arrested on Thursday under the Preventive Detention Act, days after he secured bail in a case relating to making controversial remarks against Prophet Mohammed that triggered protests across Hyderabad.

The police said the PD Act was invoked against Singh, who was suspended by the BJP following an uproar.

Raja Singh was earlier arrested by the city police on Tuesday following his alleged remarks against Islam and Prophet Mohammed in a video which was later pulled down by the social media platform on which it was uploaded.

A police statement said he has been habitually delivering provocative and inflammatory speeches and driving a wedge between communities leading to public disorder.

"The Mangalhat police executed the PD order on him on August 25 and he is being lodged in Central Jail in Cherlapally, Hyderabad," it said.

Amid tight security Raja Singh was picked by the police in the afternoon and shifted to the prison.

Shortly before his arrest, the controversial member of the legislative assembly said the Telangana police has become 'puppets' in the hands of All India Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi.

Singh also claimed that he had information that he would be arrested in connection with some of the old cases registered against him.

He held Telangana ministers KT Rama Rao and Mahmood Ali responsible for the present situation in the state.

According to legal experts, the city police commissioner can invoke the PD Act against a person if the they feel that he or she is a threat to law and order and peace and tranquility of the city.

Under the PD Act , the detainee may not be able to get immediate bail.

Citing data, the police said out of the 101 criminal cases registered against Singh since 2004, 18 related to communal offences.

Earlier in the day, demanding the arrest of Raja Singh, Owaisi said the unrest in some parts of the city is a direct result of the alleged hate speech by the legislator.

”This situation is a direct result of Raja Singh's hate speech. He must be sent to jail at the earliest. Also reiterate my appeal to maintain peace. #Hyderabad is our home, it should not fall prey to communalism,” he said in a tweet.

The city police said Singh had posted a video on Shree Ram Channel Telangana, on Youtube on August 22, against Prophet Mohammed with an intention to provoke all sections of people and thereby cause breach of peace and public tranquillity.

"After the video had gone viral, protests erupted in different parts of Hyderabad city and other parts of Telangana state and drove a wedge between communities and disturbed the peaceful nature of Hyderabad and Telangana states,” they said.

According to sources, Raja Singh was served notices on Thursday by the city police under Section 41 (A) of the CrPC over a complaint received in February relating to a video in which he purportedly made objectionable statements ”intimidating and influencing” voters of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

Before Singh's arrest, Owaisi in a separate tweet said, ’If this is how desperate BJP is for one bypoll, what'll it do in general elections? It wants to set the state on fire. It wants burnt homes, empty shops, closed schools & curfews. Inshallah, won't let them succeed. Telangana will be mukt of violence as long as it's mukt of BJP.’