Pinarai Vijayan’s Jihadi Associate Madni accused in B’lore blasts

Madani named accused in B’lore blasts



VR Jayaraj | Kochi – Daily Pioneer

Putting an end to speculations, the Karnataka Police have confirmed that Islamist leader and PDP chairman Abdul Nasser Madani has been included as one of the accused in the case relating to the 2008 Bangalore blasts. However, Shankar M Bidri, Bangalore City Police Commissioner, refused to divulge details of the additional chargesheet the police submitted on Friday evening.

At the same time, Madani himself said on Saturday that his name had figured in the list of suspects the Bangalore Police had submitted in the court on April 12. The PDP accused the Central Intelligence Bureau of conspiring to trap him. Its working chairman Poonthura Siraj said Madani was yet to receive any information about listing him as an accused in the additional chargesheet.

According to reports from Bangalore, Bidri refused to reveal the position of Madani in the list of accused and the charges leveled against him. He said that six new names of accused had been listed in the additional chargesheet, prepared with the permission of the court, and that the police were yet to get two of them in custody. With the submission of the new list, the total number of accused in the blasts case went up to 32.Two chargesheets had been submitted earlier in two of the total nine cases relating to Bangalore blasts.

Sources in the police indicated that Madani had been listed as 31st accused on the charge of inciting anti-national activities on the basis of the statements given by prime accused Thadiyantavide Nazeer, LeT’s South India commander from Kannur and Keralite Sarfaraz Nawaz, the group’s Oman-based funds-manager. According to the police, Nazeer had told Madani about the terror attack before carrying out the blasts and after that but the PD chairman had hidden this information from the authorities.

However, sources said that the Bangalore Police had decided against naming Madani’s wife Sufiya as an accused in the case for want of evidences. Officials from the Karnataka Police had questioned Madani and Sufiya on June 4 and 5 but the Islamist leader had said that he was not asked any questions in connection with the blasts. Sufiya is the tenth accused in the terror case pertaining to the burning of a Tamil Nadu State bus at Kalamassery off Kochi on September 9, 2005, in which Nazeer was the prime accused.

Reports from Bangalore also said that the police had not yet decided when Madani should be arrested but they might soon get a warrant issued against him. Sources said that a decision would depend on the situation at Anvarssery in Kerala’s Kollam district, Madani’s headquarters though officials were camping there to watch over his movements. Hundreds of PDP workers were presently camping in Anvarssery, reportedly to resist any bid to arrest Madani.

The six new names, including that of Madani, were added to the list of accused in the first two charesheets on the basis of the statements given by Nazeer. Of the total 32 accused in the case, 20 had already been in custody. Four of the accused, all Keralites, were killed in an encounter with the security forces in Kupwara, Kashmir in October, 2008 while trying to cross over to Pakistan.

Responding to questions from mediamen about the move by the Karnataka Police, Madani said at Anvarssery that he would face the action from within the legal framework. “If anyone comes to me with an arrest warrant issued by a court, I would abide by that. I have always respected the judiciary,” he said.

Asked whether he hoped to get any help from the LDF Government, he said, “The State Government does not have any role in this case. It is entirely in the hands of the authorities in another State and the case has been registered there.” Madani added that the PDP workers at Anvarssery would not make any effort to resist the police if they came to arrest him.

Responses