Maudany’s wife denied anticipatory bail, arrested (Second Lead)

KOCHI - The Kerala High Court Thursday refused to grant anticipatory bail to Sufiya Maudany, wife of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Abdul Nazir Maudany, in a bus burning case of 2005. She was arrested shortly after the court’s order.

Sufiya was named 10th accused in the case early this month. The first accused in the case is south India chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) T. Nazeer, who has been arrested.

A Tamil Nadu State Transport bus was burnt in Kalamasserry after reports that Maudany was ill-treated in Coimbatore jail, where he was detained for trial in the 1998 Coimbatore bomb blast case.

He was, however, exonerated in the case in 2007.

After Justice K.T. Sankaran denied Sufiya’s anticipatory bail plea, she was arrested from her home in Kochi.

Justice Sankaran said giving anticipatory bail to the accused would hamper the investigation of the case.

Maudany, however, maintained that his wife is innocent and had been framed in the case.

“I know my wife is totally innocent. God will not spare those people who have framed her in the case. This includes a section of police and certain political leaders. We will fight this case legally and in a democratic manner,” said Maundany.

“They have concluded that my wife is an accused, based on statements made by few people. I know which all police officials are involved. I will fight this case till my last breath because I know we are innocent,” Maudany said.

The hearing for the case started at 11.30 a.m.

Director general of prosecution V.G. Govindan Nair said there are enough evidences to point out that Sufiya was closely involved in the case. Counsel for Sufiya denied the allegations.

Early Thursday morning, supporters crowded Maudany’s residence in Kollam. While Maudany stayed back, Sufiya went to their rented home in Kochi.

Maudany also led a prayer meeting, attended by his supporters and close aides, and said whatever be the verdict, it should be accepted without creating any issues.

With reports that Sufiya might surrender before an Aluva court, policemen were also posted there.

A political slugfest over the incident started immediately after the news of Sufiya’s arrest came.

State Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said police are doing their job and the law will take its course.

“The previous Congress government should have done this and instead we have done it. They did not do because they took political milage and were aligned to PDP in the 2001 assembly polls. Through this arrest the image of our government is going to improve,” Balakrishnan said.

Congress leader Oommen Chandy, who was the chief minister in 2005, reacted: “Balakrishnan has been the home minister for nearly four years now. And if he knew Sufiya was an accused, why did he wait till the Karnataka police found out the links between Nazeer and Sufiya?”

“So this means he knew about the links but did not do anything because the CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) and Maudany had an alliance during the May Lok Sabha polls,” Chandy said.

State Bharatiya Janata Party vice-president V. Muraleedharan termed Sufiya’s arrest as a well scripted drama between the CPI-M and the PDP.