Under whose directions Kerala Police left Terrorist Moulavi scotfree?

Moulvi’s arrest: Kerala Police suffers image loss
VR Jayaraj | Kochi

The arrest of LeT operative Ibrahim Moulvi of Vellamunda, Wayanad by the Karnataka Police on Friday last has raised questions about the efficiency and sincerity of the Kerala Police.

The State police had not been able to arrest Moulvi though he had been working in a mosque at Badiyadukka, Kasaragod since January, 2009 despite the fact that they had issued a lookout notice for him.

The Karnataka Police had arrested Moulvi and Ummer Farooq of Parappanangadi, Malappuram in connection with the Bangalore bombings case from Badiyadukka and Ajmer, Rajasthan respectively. Moulvi had been working in the mosque in the false name of Muhammadali Musliar since January 17, 2009.

According to local Muslims in Badiyadukka, Moulvi used to go absent from the place at least once a month but would come back in a couple of days. The local residents had launched a search some days ago after he had gone missing. They came to know the real identity of the “Musliar” only after his arrest on Friday.

The NIA, which was investigating the case regarding recruitment of Kerala youths into LeT for training in Kashmir, had also issued a lookout notice for Moulvi. The other extremists accused in the case had reportedly told the agency that Moulvi used to give coaching classes in spirituality.

Though reports said that the Karnataka Police had arrested Moulvi from Kasaragod without informing the local police, Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said on Monday that the State Director General of Police had been informed of this. He denied allegations that there were lapses on the part of the Kerala Police in this matter.

According to sources in the Karnataka Police, Moulvi used to actively participate in the secret meetings, held at a ginger farm under the control of Nazeer in Coorg, for planning the blasts in Bangalore. He was also a close relative of KP Sabir of Kannur, one of the chief LeT commanders for operations in India.

Reports from Kasaragod said that the Intelligence wing of the police had found several valuable documents in a raid at Moulvi’s room in Badiyadukka. Among the information unearthed were telephone numbers of several of the accused in terror cases like those of Bangalore bombings and the bus-burning at Kalamassery.

According to sources in Bangalore, where the Karnataka Police subjected Moulvi and Farooq to preliminary interrogation, both were valuable operatives in the network of the LeT. Both are said to have received LeT’s terror training like its South India commander Thadiyantavide Nazeer, prime accused in the Bangalore bombings case.

Sources indicated that Ummer Farooq, who had recruited the four Malayalee youths killed in Kupwara, Kashmir in October, 2008, was arrested in Ajmer by the Rajasthan Police perhaps after the IB brought him from Saudi Arabia, where he was holed after the blast at Ernakulam district collectorate on July 10, 2008.

Ummer Farooq, who is said to have assisted Nazeer in recruiting about 150 youths from Kerala into the LeT, had played an instrumental role in the burning of a Tamil Nadu bus at Kalamassery. It is also said that he had stayed with Nazeer at the house of Sufiya, wife of Abdul Nasser Madani, in Kochi on the night of the Kalamassery incident.

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