HYDERABAD: The Old City of Hyderabad trembled in dread on Saturday after Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi was shot four times and stabbed with knives and daggers by his enemies in his constituency Chandrayangutta on Saturday.
The attack, which took place in full public view as the MLA was about to get into his car after a padayatra, left him grievously wounded and profusely bleeding. He was rushed to Owaisi Hospital, owned by his family. His condition is stated to be critical.
Anticipating trouble, police have marshalled 20,000 security troopers to keep the peace in the tinderbox city.
Along with Akbaruddin, Malakpet MLA Ahmed Balala was injured in the attack. Reacting to the attack, a security guard of Balala shot dead one of the assailants and seriously injured two others.
The name of one Mohammed Pahelwan, with whom Akbaruddin is said to be locked in a land dispute, was mentioned as the instigator or leader of the attack.
Akbaruddin is a son of the late MIM founder Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi and younger brother of Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi.
Police sources said the attack seemed to be spontaneous. Though land disputes may have been the trigger, they believe the attack is a result of the longstanding turf war between the MIM and the Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT) in the Old City.
For the last four days, Akbar had been conducting padayatras in his constituency.
On Saturday, according to eye-witnesses and police sources, he went to Barkas at around 8 am where he laid the foundation stone for a compound wall of the local graveyard.
He then went to the local MIM office for breakfast along with Balala, corporator Mansoor Avalgi and a few other followers. The younger Owaisi has been identifying usurped public lands in the Old City ever since the government’s mass contact Rachabanda programme. As part of that process, he is said to have identified a piece of land claimed by Mohammed Pahelwan and wanted the structures on it demolished.
At the meeting Saturday, Akbar reportedly made some remarks against Pahelwan, which provoked the other’s followers and a heated argument ensued. As the MLA was about to get into his Gypsy, some assailants, allegedly led by Pahelwan, set upon him with knives and shot four rounds at him from a country-made weapon. Reacting, Balala’s gunman opened fire with his 9 mm service revolver, killing one person, identified as Pahelwan’s son Ibrahim, 19, on the spot and injuring two others whose condition is said to be critical.
Profusely bleeding in his Gypsy, Akbaruddin and Balala were rushed to Owaisi Hospital. By afternoon, doctors extracted two bullets from Akbar’s abdomen.
As news of the shooting spread and with TV channels flashing the name of Pahelwan, an MBT supporter, MIM supporters went berserk, attacking Pahelwan’s hotel and MBT leader Amjadullah Khan’s house. A function hall and a commercial complex belonging to Amjadullah’s brother Khayyam Khan were pelted with stones. Owaisi’s followers massed around Owaisi Hospital and heckled police commissioner A K Khan as he arrived there. To defuse the tension, Khan released a one-line message reading ‘I am safe: Akbar’ to calm tempers.
Pahelwan surfaced on a TV channel to deny his men had attacked the younger Owaisi. He explained that he and his son Ibrahim rushed out of his house upon hearing a commotion and Balala’s gunman shot dead his son.
In the evening, Pahelwan was picked up by the police and reportedly shifted to an unknown location for interrogation.
Within an hour of the attack, personnel of the Rapid Action Force, Central Reserve Police Force and AP Special Police were ordered to take up positions in the Old City. Most shops downed shutters within minutes.
Akbar’s brother Asaduddin Owaisi flew back to Hyderabad from New Delhi and drove straight to Owaisi Hospital. Chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy, deputy speaker Nadendla Manohar and others visited Akbar in hospital.