In a late-night raid on Tuesday, Telangana State Revenue officials sealed the office of the Telangana State Wakf Board in Hyderabad, reportedly on the orders of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
According to reports, the raid followed a review meeting held at Pragati Bhavan, the CM's official residence. In the meeting, KCR was reported to be unsatisfied with answers he received from the Wakf Board on various issues.
Confirming the same, Telangana State Wakf Board chairman Mohammed Saleem told The Hindu, “I am told that the Chief Minister had a review meeting with board officials after which the order was given to the District Collector to seal the office. I was not present at the meeting but we are with the CM’s decision."
"There were around 100 officials from the police and revenue departments here. Most of the office is already sealed. We were given our phones around 11 pm," a staff member told the newspaper.
The raid, which saw heavy deployment of police outside the Haj house at Nampally, took place a day before the state's Legislative Assembly was scheduled to discuss minority welfare, The New Indian Express reported.
Stating that the first, second, third, fourth, seventh and eighth Floors of the building had been sealed, the TNIE report adds that Hyderabad Collector Yogitha Rana, RDO Chandrakala, ex-CEO Asadullah, present CEO Mannan Farooqui, Minorities Welfare secretary Omar Jaleel were all present at the spot.
Earlier this week, AIMIM floor leader and Chandrayangutta MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi urged the state government to identify lands belonging to endowments department and the Wakf Board, and rectify land records.
Owaisi claimed that over 56,000 acres of endowment and temple lands as well as 57,424 acres of Wakf properties were under encroachment in the state, pointing out that the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport and Hitec City were also constructed on Wakf lands.
“Injustice was meted out to Telangana region in undivided Andhra Pradesh where lands in Hyderabad were sold and money accrued from it was used for developmental activities in Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. Now it is time to revert the occupied lands to the departments concerned,” he was quoted as saying.