Police deny BJP MLA’s charge of attacking him, say he hit himself with stone

BJP legislator from Hyderabad T Raja Singh said on Thursday he was attacked by the police when he and his supporters were erecting a 25-feet statue of Avanti Bai Lodh, the former queen of Madhya Pradesh’s Ramgarh, a charge denied by the force.

Raja Singh, who represents the Goshamahal assembly constituency, said he was brutally assaulted by the police for installing the statue of a freedom fighter, who had fought for the nation.

“This is highly atrocious. We shall complain to the director general of police,” Singh, who was treated at Osmania General Hospital later, said.

West Zone deputy commissioner of police AR Srinivas, however, denied the allegations of the MLA. He said Singh along with his followers tried to install the statue in the old city without any permission in violation of the law.

“The MLA hit himself with a stone on his head and caused a self-inflicted injury on his head,” he said, adding that all steps were being taken to maintain law and order.

A video that surfaced later in the morning also showed the MLA hit his head with a stone.

Raja Singh reached the Y-junction of Jummeraat Bazar at around 1am along with hundreds of Bharatiya Janata Party workers to erect the Plaster of Paris and fibre statue of Rani Avanti Bai.

Personnel of the Shah Inayat Gunj police station tried to stop them from erecting the statue, saying they did not have permission from the municipal authorities.

“There is already a six-feet statue of Rani Avanti Bai installed several years ago but Singh and his followers want to replace it with a bigger statue, which will only cause traffic congestion in the narrow lane,” inspector Chand Basha said while speaking to reporters.

However, the MLA and his followers were adamant on installing the statue and started shouting slogans. This resulted in a clash between the police and the BJP workers. The protesters pelted stones at the police and the force resorted to lathi-charge to disperse them.

More than 100 police personnel, besides quick response teams and Rapid Action Force, were deployed to restore normalcy in the area. Police have registered a case against the MLA for unlawful assembly and rioting.

The BJP’s state unit president K Laxman and MLC N Ramachander Rao called on Singh and enquired about the incident.

Condemning the alleged attack on Singh, Laxman wondered whether the people of Telangana were living in a democracy or the regime of Razakars, referring to the armed wing of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, the precursor of the All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen or AIMIM.

“We shall take up a massive agitation against the highhanded behaviour of the police,” he said.

First Published: Jun 20, 2019 13:42 IST