Differences in Kerala Police over Madani interrogation

  The Kerala Police have confirmed that the probe against PDP chairman Abdul Nasser Madani for his reported connections with terror outfits will continue even as allegations have come up to the effect that the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) had carried out the two-day interrogation of the Islamist leader as per a pre-written screenplay of the Home Department, ruled by CPI(M) Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

Sources in the Kerala Police said that Madani and his wife Sufiya could be interrogated again if this was found necessary. They said the police were investigating the issue seriously because they needed clear evidences to book a person on criminal charges.

They said the sleuths were analysing the statements made by Madani and his wife during the interrogation by ATS officials at his residence in Karukappally, Kaloor, Kochi, on Wednesday and Thursday. ATS chief TK Vinodkumar, Deputy Inspector General of Police, and VK Akbar, Deputy Superintendent of Police, headed the interrogation team.

The ATS questioned Madani on the basis of the statements from the terror-accused arrested in connection with the Indian Mujahiddeen-sponsored blasts at Bangalore and other cities, mainly Lashkar-e-Toiba (Let)’s Oman-based Malayalee fund-raiser Sarfaras Nawaz and Abdul Sattar alias Sainuddeen, the LeT’s explosives expert.

Madani’s wife Sufiya was interrogated for her alleged role in the burning of a Tamil Nadu State bus at Kalamassery on September 9, 2005. Police said several persons had already been arrested for their connections with the four Malayalee militants killed by security forces in Kashmir last October. More arrests could be made soon, they said, adding that they were trying to find out whether Madani had any information about them.

At the same time, there are allegations that the interrogation of Madani and his wife by the Kerala ATS is part of plan to avoid the intervention of the court in the matter and also the possibilities of the Gujarat or Karntaka police questioning the Islamist leader.

Madani had earlier said that the Kerala Police would never move against him (his PDP was an electoral ally of the CPI(M) in Kerala) but the Karnataka or Gujarat police could arrest him on some bogus charges.

According to sources in the Home Department, there was sharp difference of opinion among the top police officials about the interrogation of Madani in the past two days. There was a feeling among certain officials that the interrogation of Madani was a plan hatched by the official leadership of the CPI(M), headed by its secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, aimed at saving Madani from action from the court or the police of other States.

There were rumours that Additional Director of Police (Intelligence) Sibi Mathews had gone on a long leave had connection with the CPI(M) move to save Madani, a close poll companion of the Marxists though the explanation was that top cop had taken leave for his son’s educational matters in the US.

Sibi Mathews had always wanted an in-depth probe to find out the extent of the terror network in Kerala in the context of certain Malayalee youths roles in the various explosions last year and the killing of the four Malayalee militants in Kashmir.

Also, Mathews had supported the Karnataka Police’s feeling that the blast-fire at SM Street, Kozhikode in April, 2007 had connections with terrorism.

That the Kerala ATS had interrogated Madani just when the Karnataka Police was trying to get the opportunity to question him on the basis of the information collected from Nawaz and Sainuddeen had generated suspicions. The worry of a section of top officials in the Kerala Police was that their Karnataka counterparts would find it difficult to argue that they still wanted to question Madani and his wife as the Kerala ATS had already questioned him.

After the questioning concluded on Thursday, Madani had confidently told newsmen that the interrogators had not got any evidence against him or his wife. He said that the police had asked him about Nawaz and Sainuddeen but he had never met them.

“The first time I saw the face of Nawaz was when they (the police) showed me his photograph,” Madani said.

Nawaz had told the police that he had held discussions with Madani at his orphanage at Anvarsssery, Kollam and Sainuddeen had admitted that his daughter Fazeela Begum had attended school by staying at Sufiya’s place in Kochi.

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