Sufiya named witness against Madani

Even as the anticipatory bail application of Islamist leader Abdul Nasser Madani, 31st accused in the Bangalore bombings case, is to be taken up by the court on Tuesday, reports from the Karnataka capital say that the police have listed his wife Sufiya as a witness against him.

Judge Srikanth Vadavatti of Fast Track Court (5), Bangalore had on Saturday deferred Madani’s bail plea, filed on June 16, to Tuesday after Public prosecutor Rudra Swamy requested for more time for submitting the police’s counter-affidavit. At the same time, the Madani’s political party, PDP, has found some success in earning the support of several Muslim organizations and rights outfits for him.

The Karnataka Police are said to have collected evidences of telephonic conversations between Sufiya and Thadiyantavide Nazeer, prime accused in the blasts case and LeT’s South India commander. In his interrogations, Nazeer had told the police that he used to call into Sufiya’s phone for talking to her husband. Sufiya is tenth accused in the terror case pertaining to the burning of a Tamil Nadu bus near Kochi on September 9, 2005. Nazeer is prime accused in that case also.

Nazeer had also told the police that he had talked to Madani several times before and after the blasts in Bangalore. The Karnataka Police have, in this context, named Sufiya as a witness in order to establish that Madani and Nazeer had discussed the matter of bombings carried out in the Garden City on July 25, 2008, in which two persons were killed.

Madani had last weekend accused the Karnataka Police of finding false witnesses to nail him. He said that his brother had been listed as a witness but claimed that he had not been questioned so far. He said the police had arranged false witnesses to trap him in the Coimbatore serial blasts case also. Officials of the Karnataka Police had questioned Madani and his wife on June 4 and 5.

The Karnataka Police had named Madani as the 31st accused in the case in the chargesheet they had submitted in the Metropolitan Magistrate Court on June 11, and the court had on June 15 issued a non-bailable warrant against Madani, asking the police to produce him or before June 23. Madani filed the anticipatory bail application on June 16. There are a total of 32 accused in the case.

The police are yet to find Shoaib Faizal of Pappinissery, Kannur, named as an accused in the same additional chargesheet. Four others – Sharafuddin of Kuruva, Kannur, Thajuddin from North Paravur, Ernakulam, PB Sabeer of Perumbavoor, Ernakulam and Abdul Khader, Virajpetta, Coorg are already in the police custody.