Please pry for him !!

The Karnataka police yesterday arrested People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Abdunnasir Ma’dani over the 2008 Bangalore blasts. He was taken to the Karnataka state capital to be produced before a trial court.

The cleric-turned-politician is accused of taking part in the conspiracy hatched in the Karnataka town of Coorg before the blasts. It is also claimed that his former aide, T Naseer, the key accused in the case, contacted him before and after the seven blasts that claimed one life and injured 15.

Ma’dani, 46, has denied the charges terming it an attempt by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government “with fabricated evidences” to cover up a series of “blasts and anti-national activities” in which many BJP activists stand accused.

“This is a political conspiracy hatched at the highest level to finish me off. I don’t think I’ll return alive though I have great faith in the judiciary,” he told reporters at his Anwarussey campus in the coastal Kerala district of Kollam before the arrest. “Once in Karnataka, I may even be charged with the Mumbai attacks or the attack on the World Trade Centre”.

Ma’dani was to surrender before a local court after midday prayers as promised earlier. But the Kerala police took control of his vehicle before he could leave the campus and the police from Karnataka executed the warrant issued by the Bangalore Metropolitan Magistrate.

He has to be produced in a court within 24 hours of the arrest.

Ma’dani was then taken straight to the airport here to catch the first available flight to Bengaluru.

Police from the neighbouring state arrived last week but the arrest was delayed as a large number of PDP workers were camping at the campus and they had to be dispersed.

At the airport, Ma’dani called for calm and asked his followers not to fall into the trap laid by his enemies by indulging in activities that could harm communal harmony. “This is not a Hindu-Muslim issue simply because the BJP is in power in Karnataka. You all should pray for me together,” he said.

However, PDP workers turned violent in some parts of the state attacking vehicles and forcing shops to down shutters. They also took out a march to the airport when he was brought here. The PDP has called for observing a “black day” today.

In Bengaluru, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa hailed the arrest as a major achievement and praised the police for “pursuing the case so efficiently”. He also thanked the Kerala government for its co-operation to book “anti-social elements”.

Earlier Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Baalakrishnan denied Karnataka charges that the arrest of the PDP leader, an unofficial ally of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF), was being deliberately delayed.

“Our role was limited to providing security to them. This is not (the BJP-ruled) Karnataka or Gujarat (to use the police to settle political scores). It was because of such activities that Gujarat’s deputy home minister ended up in jail,” the minister said.

He added it was the responsibility of the Karnataka authorities to ensure Ma’dani’s wellbeing. He is suffering from a mild fever and diabetic lesions besides a number of disability-related problems. Ma’dani had lost his right leg in a 1992 attempt on his life.

Since the police began preparations for his arrest, Ma’dani has addressed three press conferences dismissing prosecution allegations. He had spent nearly a decade in Tamil Nadu as an under-trial prisoner over the 1998 Coimbatore serial blasts till his acquittal on August 1, 2007.

The prosecution alleges that the defendants in the case turned terrorists after being motivated by Ma’dani’s speeches on issues like the 2001 Gujarat riots, during which he was in jail, and three books he allegedly gave them which were freely available in the market.

All the witnesses against him, except one who died, had said the statements were fabricated. One of them even approached the court claiming he was made to sign a statement in Kannada language which he could not read.

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