Asad Owaisi booked for attack on Shabbir

MIM chief and Hyderabad Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi has been booked for his alleged involvement in the attack on Congress MLC Shabbir Ali during the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation polls here, police said today. Cases against Owaisi and others were registered late last night under relevant sections of IPC. Ali, Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council, had yesterday filed a case against Owaisi and his followers for allegedly attacking him in Mirchowk area here. "Mirchowk Police has registered a case against Owaisi and others under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 427 (mischief causing damage), 506 r/w 149 of IPC. The case is being probed and action will be taken against responsible persons as per facts and law," a senior police official said. TPCC chief Uttam Kumar Reddy and Ali have alleged MIM party workers led by Owaisi attacked them. A vehicle belonging to Reddy was also damaged by miscreants. Ali alleged he sustained injury below the right eye and on other body parts. Mirchowk Police Inspector Y Yadgir Reddy told PTI they have received a similar complaint from an Urdu daily reporter alleging Owaisi and some of his followers attacked him yesterday. Police have registered a case and a probe is underway. Yesterday, MIM and Congress workers clashed during the GHMC polls and police had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse them. The trouble started when Congress candidate Mohammad Gouse and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MLA Pasha Quadri engaged in a confrontation in Mirchowk in old city following which they were taken into police custody briefly. Reddy and Ali then reached Mirchowk Police station, where Gouse was kept in custody. Owaisi also reached there at the same time which escalated tension between the two groups. According to police, they had to resort to mild lathi- charge to disperse the agitated party workers when they, led by their respective leaders, gathered at the police station.