“They were sent to jail and not a zoo” – Bangalore top cop to Kerala Police

Nazeer is no showpiece: B’lore top cop

PNS | Kochi

Bangalore City Police Commissioner Shankar M Bidri said on Saturday protested strongly against the Kerala Police’s act of parading LeT’s South India commander Thadiyantavide Nazeer, prime accused in the Bangalore bombings case, and his aide and co-accused Shafaz in the public without masks and allowing them to freely interact with the media even as a warrant was issued by a court for production of the duo before July 6..

“They were sent to jail and not a zoo. A jail has certain norms for keeping the accused,” Bidri told a Malayalam television channel in Bangalore. Nazeer and Shafaz, also accused in several terror cases in Kerala including the twin blasts at Kozhikode in 2006, had appeared twice before the media when they were taken to courts by personnel of the Kerala Police in the past two weeks.

Referring to the interaction of Nazeer with the media outside the Special CBI Court in Kochi, Bidri said that the statements the accused made outside the court had no legal validity and there was no need to take their words in face value. Nazeer had told the media that he had not made any statements against Islamist leader Abdul Nasser Madani, 31st accused in the Bangalore blasts case.

“We are not bothered by that,” Bidri said when asked about this. “Statements by the accused (in public) are not admissible in the court either for prosecution or for defence purpose,” he said. The public denial by Nazeer of having given any statement on Madani had embarrassed the Karnataka Police as they had made Madani an accused in the case on the basis of his signed statement.

About the possibility of the Karnataka Police arresting Madani, against whom a non-bailable warrant was pending, Bidri said it was the duty of the police to arrest him since the order was from the court. He said he did not expect any violence to occur if the Karnataka Police tried to arrest the Islamist leader. According to the warrant issued by the First Class Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Bangalore, Madani has to be produced before the judge on or before July 6.

On Saturday, the same court that was hearing the Bangalore bombings case, issued a warrant for the production of Nazeer and Shafaz on or before July 6. Both were presently lodged at the Central Prison in Viyyur, Thrissur. They were to be produced in the Bangalore court earlier, but the prison authorities had said they needed more time due to security reasons.

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