HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad police on Saturday booked a criminal case against Hyderabad Lok Sabha member Asaduddin Owaisi and others in connection with Friday's violent incidents in the old city. South Zone DCP Sandeep Shandilya said that Sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly), 427 (damage to property) of the IPC and relevant provisions of the Criminal Law Amendment Act are being invoked in the case. "However, all sections may not be applied to all the persons being booked," he said.

Explaining the background of the case, the DCP said leaders of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), including its MP Owaisi, had organised a public meeting near Mecca mosque on Friday without securing permission of the police.

They had not got the consent of the mosque management either to use loudspeakers to address the gathering, he added.

According to him, the party leaders moved around in vehicles campaigning about the meeting to be held near the mosque in protest against pictorial depiction of Prophet Muhammed by a Danish newspaper. "However, they washed of their hands when a section of the crowd turned violent," the DCP observed.

Framing of charges

The investigators are collecting evidence by examining video clippings aired by television news channels and questioning other eyewitnesses. Referring to allegations of party leaders inciting violence, Mr. Shandilya said unless concrete evidence was gathered such serious charges couldn't be framed.

"The party had mobilised people for the meeting. But there is the possibility of some youngsters having indulged in the violence in a fit of rage over the sensitive issue of the cartoon," the DCP observed.

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