Will address rally via video if denied visa,says UK cleric

London-based radical Islamic preacher Anjem Choudary,who has called for a procession around Parliament on March 3 to enforce Sharia in India,said he was not hopeful of getting a visa but had already booked a hotel for video conferencing

London-based radical Islamic preacher Anjem Choudary,who has called for a procession around Parliament on March 3 to enforce Sharia in India,on Monday said he was not hopeful of getting a visa but had already booked a hotel for video conferencing.

He said the plans for the procession was still on and people from Mumbai and Bangalore would be congregating in Delhi. The police said they were planning to slap criminal cases against the group and were looking for the groups local contacts.

I have been informed by my contacts that the Indian High Commission here (London) may not give me visa for travelling to Delhi. We are undeterred by this. If I am not able to come there I will address the people via video conferencing,we have already booked a hotel for the same, said Choudary over phone from London.

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He refused to name the hotel fearing police crackdown.The police said though they have alarmed the hotels in the New Delhi district (close to Parliament House) to not make any bookings for video conferencing on March 2,they said the orders were being extended to all hotels in the city.

They could have made the bookings in someone elses name. We will check the records, said a senior police officer. Through his website sharia4hind.com Choudary had announced that the rally would be organised on March 3. The website has been blocked since.

A PIL was filed in the Delhi HC against the contents of the website and its plan to organise a rally.