Madani’s wife waged war against nation: NIA

The NIA wants to prosecute Sufiya, wife of Islamist leader Abdul Nasser Madani,for waging war against the nation in the case pertaining to the terror act of burning a Tamil Nadu bus at Kalamassery, off Kochi. The agency will submit – most probably on Monday – the chargesheet citing this at the Special CBI court (NIA court) in Kochi.

According to reports from Delhi, the Union Home Department has already given permission to the NIA to prosecute all the 13 accused, including Sufiya, in the case of burning the Tamil Nadu bus at Kalamassery on September 9, 2005. Sufiya is the tenth accused in the case.

The chargesheet reportedly says that Sufiya had got the bus-burning act executed with the assistance of LeT commander Thadiyantavide Nazeer as part of the anti-national activities aimed at mounting the pressure on Tamil Nadu to get Madani, then lodged in a Coimbatore prison in connection with the serial blasts case, released. Nazeer is the prime accused in the case.

Sufiya Madani is now on bail after her arrest by the Kerala Police from her Kochi residence on December 17 last year. Nazeer and her husband Madani are presently in prison in Bangalore in connection with the 2008 bombings case. The NIA had taken over the probe into the bus-burning incident in December last along with some other terror acts like the Kozhikode twin blasts of March 3, 2006.

The NIA’s chargesheet is said to contain the charge that Sufiya had planned to continue war against the nation with the assistance of other terrorists like Nazeer. She would be tried for charges coming under the Anti-National Activities (Prevention) Act, it is said. However, the NIA’s probe report has reportedly exempted Madani from the list of accused for want of concrete evidence.

Though there were witness statements to the effect that Nazeer had sought the permission of Madani over phone prior to burning the bus at Kalamassery, the NIA exempted Madani from the list of accused. This was because it did not want to weaken the case against the other accused because of lack of evidences against Madani.

The chargesheet says that Sufiya was engaged in anti-national activities in such ways that these could have endangered national security. It also says that constant monitoring of Sufiya’s acts is necessary even in the future. She had got relaxation in her bail conditions several times for visiting Madani and other relatives.

According to the NIA, Nazeer and three others had stopped the Tamil Nadu bus, coming from the KSRTC bus station at Kochi, at Kalamassery on the night of September 9, 2005. After getting the bus driver out on gun-point, they drove it to a deserted area and set it ablaze after letting the passengers out.

According to Delhi reports, the Union Home Department, acting on a request from the NIA, had on December 7 given permission to prosecute Sufiya and the other accused. According to the agency, the Centre’s clearance for prosecution was necessary to prosecute the accused as the case had international ramifications.

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