'Unwell' Owaisi skips meeting with police

Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, who has been booked for allegedly making a hate speech against a particular community, will undergo a medical test to ascertain whether he is fit to be presented before the police.

Owaisi, who is facing several cases for allegedly making an inflammatory speech, was scheduled to appear before a police station on Monday. Instead, he sent his lawyer to the police station, who claimed that the MIM leader was unwell and could not make it.

Owaisi had returned from London early on Monday after undergoing a medical check-up there.

Keeping in mind the law and order situation in the city, the police are unlikely to arrest Owaisi; they will wait for him to surrender.

The ruling Congress government in Andhra Pradesh is also wary of arresting Owaisi as such a step might flare up communal tensions and create a sympathy wave in his favour.

But the police do not want to seem too lenient about the MIM legislator. They are likely to summon him again and if he fails to make an appearance the second time in a row, his arrest would be inevitable.

Policemen who are probing whether Owaisi indeed made a hate speech claim that it was not a pre-planned move and the MIM leader made a lot of comments on the spur of the moment.

But this is not a good enough ground for him to escape the legal repercussions of making such a speech, said the police.

The ruling Congress is trying to play it safe as the party is worried about losing its support base among Muslim voters in case Owaisi is arrested.

Meanwhile, the YSR Congress, an ally of the MIM, has chosen not to react to the entire episode.