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Source: http://www.chitramala.com/news/mim-mla-afsar-khan-abids-107062.html
Hyderabad, July 26, 2008: Tension prevailed in the Andhra Pradesh capital Saturday as a legislator was arrested for firing in the air to stop municipal authorities from demolishing illegal structures.
The arrest of Afsar Khan, who belongs to the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), sparked unrest in Abids and led to a massive traffic jam in the city centre.
Police said Khan opened fire from his licensed revolver when officials of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) were demolishing an illegal structure on Chappel Road in Abids.
The legislator, who represents Karwan assembly constituency in Hyderabad, protested the GHMC’s action and wanted the officials to stop the demolition immediately. As the officials continued their work, he whipped out his revolver and opened fire, creating panic among the GHMC personnel who fled for their lives.
Police arrested Khan as employees of GHMC’s town planning wing took to the streets and staged a sit-in to demand action against him.
Tension prevailed in the area as a large number of MIM workers resorted to violence outside Abids police station to demand the legislator’s release. They blocked the roads leading to M.J. Market and Koti bringing traffic movement to a grinding halt. The violent MIM workers even attacked school buses.
The legislators and the Lok Sabha member Asaduddin Owaisi had lengthy discussions with the police officials and withdrew the demonstration after the police registered cases against the GHMC officials.
The MIM thugs filed a false FIR against the duty-bound GHMC officials. Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 147 (rioting) and 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons) read with 149 (unlawful assembly) of Indian Penal Code were invoked against the GHMC officials.
In addition to GHMC Chief City Planner Purushotham Reddy, names of GHMC Assistant City Planner, Shama, and GHMC section officer, Ranjit, figured in the First Information Report.
MIM floor leader in the assembly Akbaruddin Owaisi and three other party legislators also rushed to the police station demanding Khan’s release. The protest led to a huge traffic jam in the busy area as MIM workers also forced shops to down shutters. Hundreds of vehicles were caught in the nearly five-kilometre-long traffic snarl.
MIM leaders said that Khan rushed to the scene after some GHMC employees manhandled another party legislator Moazzam Khan, who along with his supporters, tried to stop the demolition. However, GHMC employees alleged that the MIM legislators manhandled them and prevented them from doing their duty.
Karwan MLA Mohd Muqtada Khan alias Afsar Khan has been involved in several controversial incidents in the past.
Afsar Khan’s alleged attack on junior doctors at Niloufer Hospital in December 2007 had sparked a protest by medicos who struck work for several days, paralysing healthcare across the state. He allegedly attacked them for not providing proper treatment to a child. Following the orders of the magistrate, the Nampally police booked an attempt-to-murder case against the MLA on Dec. 7, 2007.
He was one among the three MIM MLAs who attacked controversial Bangladeshi novelist Taslima Nasreen at Press Club, Somajiguda last August. The novelist was here to release the Telugu version of her book ’Shodh’. A case was slapped against Afsar Khan under Section 354 (Outraging the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
He was also named an accused in the attack against ’Siasat’ editor last year. When the editor, Zahed Ali Khan, was returning home after office on March 20, 2007, a youth dumped filth on his car near St Ann’s College, Mehdipatnam. The editor alleged that Karwan MLA Afsar Khan was behind the attack.
In another incident, the MLA’s associates ransacked Archeological Survey of India (ASI) office at Sultan Bazar last year when officials were trying to remove encroachments at Golconda Fort. The officers alleged that the MIM activists attacked them only on his instigation.
More recently, in June, when officers of National Child Labour Project rescued 10 children workers from various establishments at Tolichowki and Mehdipatnam areas, the MLA prevented officers from shifting them to transit homes and freed them.
The MLA is reportedly a defaulter of Charminar Bank loan.
Afsar Khan first got elected to the Assembly from the Karwan constituency in September 2003, but the House was dissolved within a month. He won the 2004 election from the same constituency.
The 59-year-old MLA, who completed BA, runs a real estate business. His brother Meraj Khan, who died recently, was known as ’Meraj Pahelwan’. Both Afsar Khan and his brother shot into the limelight because of their real estate business.
Traffic comes to a halt on Basheerbagh - Abids Road as MIM activists resort to violence in front of the police station after a clash with GHMC demolition squad.
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