Qazi Ali Abdullah Rifai house raided by Hyderabad police for contract marriage'

Hyderabad: Qazi Ali Abdullah Rifai, of Tallabkatta is again in the news for a wrong reason. The city police on Monday night raided his house to nab him in connection with an alleged ‘contract marriage’ case. However, the Qazi and his son gave the police the slip and reportedly escaped from the house.

The Qazi was arrested on similar charges by the police several times before. In the present case, he is wanted by the police for taking a few lakh rupees from an elderly Oman national. The foreigner had come to the city along with his son and another friend.

“When we raided the lodge we found the Oman nationals in suspicious circumstances and some money was also found with them. They confessed that they had plans to get married to a local girl here and they paid some money to Qazi Rifai. We rushed our teams to the spot but he managed to give us the slip,” said a senior police official.

The police teams immediately conducted searches at a few places but without success. The controversial Qazi was suspended by the Wakf Board in 2014, following which he obtained a stay from court and is continuing to be at large.

Several criminal cases are registered against him including one in 2014 when his son was also charged with a similar offence. Meanwhile, the police are continuing raids on the houses of a few brokers in the city following information that a few more foreign nationals are holed up there. The police also checked some upscale hotels where nationals of other Gulf countries are also in residence and their bonafides are being verified.