Friday prayers pass off peacefully, a day after Raja Singh arrest

Apart from near Mecca Masjid, hundreds of policemen of Rapid Action Force and special armed police forces were deployed in all communally sensitive areas of the old city which witnessed sporadic violence in the last four days after the surfacing of the controversial video of the arrested BJP MLA

Hyderabad

Over 2,000 Muslims attended the special prayers on Friday at Mecca Masjid near Charminar amid tight security. (ANI)

The Friday prayers of the Muslims went off peacefully in the old city of Hyderabad amidst tight security by the Hyderabad police in the wake of a tense situation prevailing in the area following the recent alleged blasphemous comments made by Bharatiya Janata Party legislator T Raja Singh against Prophet Mohammad.

Hundreds of policemen belonging to task force and Rapid Action Force were deployed at the historic Mecca Masjid near Charminar to prevent any untoward incidents, as over 2,000 Muslims attended the special prayers on Friday.

Senior police officials led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (South Zone) Sai Chaitanya stationed themselves at Charminar to supervise the security. The police kept a tight vigil around the mosque to stop any procession by the protestors after the prayers. Barricades were erected around Charminar.

Soon after the prayers, a few men raised slogans against the BJP MLA, who has since been arrested by the police Preventive Detention Act, but the police quickly dispersed them.

Apart from near Mecca Masjid, hundreds of policemen of Rapid Action Force and special armed police forces were deployed in all the communally sensitive areas of the old city which witnessed sporadic violence in the last four days after the surfacing of the controversial video of the arrested BJP MLA.

Owaisi made an appeal to the Muslims to confine themselves to Friday prayers at the mosques near their residences, instead of coming to Mecca Masjid.

Meanwhile, traders in Begum Bazar area observed voluntary shutdown on Friday in support of Raja Singh, who was lodged in Cherlapally Central Prison. Singh’s followers staged protests at a few places in his Goshamahal constituency.

The police made elaborate security arrangements at Goshamahal, Tappachabutra, Habeebnagar, Mangalhat and Jummerat Bazaar areas following Singh’s detention on Thursday evening.