K’taka Police to quiz two former Madani guards

The Karnataka Police team probing the 2008 Bangalore bombings case will question two former Kerala Police security guards of Islamist leader Abdul Nasser Madani, 31st accused in the case. Bangalore City Police’s Deputy Commissioner Omkarayya has sent notices to KP Praveen and Shihabuddin to appear for questioning in the Karnataka capital on Sunday.

Sources said that the notices, forwarded to Kochi City Police Commissioner Manoj Abraham, were handed over to Praveen and Shihabuddin, office-bearers of the Kerala Police Association, the other day. Both of them are presently stationed at the Armed Reserve Camp, Ernakulam.

The Bangalore police are planning to question the duo in connection with Madani’s alleged visit to Karnataka’s Coorg district, where the conspiracy for the blasts in Bangalore is said to have been hatched. According to reports, Praveen and Shihabuddin were in the security detail assigned by the Kerala Police for Madani between January and August, 2008.

The Karnataka Police have already questioned four of Madani’s former Kerala Police guards – Shajahan, Nabeel, Basheer and Sajeev. According to reports, they would be questioning these policemen once again. However, it is said that the investigators need information from Praveen and Shihabuddin to fill gaps in the statements of the other four policemen.

The Karnataka Police’s finding is that Madani had personally reached Coorg, where he conspired with LeT’s South India boss Thadiyantavide Nazeer, first accused in the 2008 blasts case, for carrying out the bombings in Bangalore. However, Madani holds that he was undergoing treatment during the said period.

According to sources, a senior official of the Karnataka Police had personally handed over the notices for Praveen and Shajahan to Manoj Abraham. They also indicated that the Kochi Police commissioner had already instructed the commander of the Armed Reserve camp to send the duo to Bangalore.

Meanwhile, the Special CBI Court II (NIA court) in Kochi on Friday permitted relaxation in the conditions of bail for Madani’s wife Sufiya, tenth accused in the terror case related to the burning of a Tamil Nadu State bus at Kalamassery off Kochi on September 9, 2005. The NIA is investigating this case.

The court on Friday sanctioned relaxation for a week in the condition that Sufiya should not leave Ernakulam district to allow her to visit her sister at Ochira, Kollam. The NIA court had on September 22 allowed her to leave Ernakulam district to visit her husband in the Bangalore prison.