Hyderabad police have registered a case against motivational speaker Munawar Zama, alongside Abdul Rasheed Basheer Ahmed and Rehman, the owner and manager of the Metropolis Hotel in Hyderabad’s Regimental Bazaar. The charges follow the vandalism of an idol at the Muthyalamma Temple in Secunderabad. Salman Salim Thakur, the individual allegedly responsible for the desecration, had recently attended a workshop organized by Zama at the same hotel.
This case was initiated based on a complaint from a sub-inspector at the Gopalapuram police station, who cited sections 299 (insulting religious sentiments), 192 (provocation with intent to incite riots), 196 (promoting enmity between groups), 223 (disobedience leading to public obstruction), and 49 (abetment of crime) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS).
Munawar Zama, who runs the English House Academy, is a well-known motivational speaker and has helped over 200,000 people across India and the Gulf region with language and personal development training. He has received various accolades, such as the 2019 National Award for Excellence in Education and the 2016 Ideal Teacher Award, and was recently invited as a special guest by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman for the Hajj pilgrimage, highlighting his prominence in educational and religious communities.
As part of the investigation, the police have sealed the hotel and are examining conference recordings, distributed materials, and other related documents.
“The key features of the workshop, as claimed by the organisers, included functional grammar, communication skills, vocabulary enhancement, pronunciation, public speaking, confidence building, and character building.”
Witnesses to the October 14 temple incident reported that Thakur, originally from Maharashtra, entered the sanctum early in the morning and caused significant damage to the deity’s idol. Local residents detained him and turned him over to authorities. Thakur allegedly has a record of similar incidents in Mumbai, and investigators are probing any potential links between his recent workshop attendance and his actions at the temple.
Zama has over 3.63 million subscribers on YouTube, more than 742K followers on Instagram and nearly 2.7 million followers on Facebook.
