By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Bengaluru: Following the City Police Commissioner’s statement that the police had no evidence of Abdunnasir Maudany’s involvement in the Chinnaswamy stadium blasts, the police yesterday did not seek extension of his police custody and subsequently, Maudany has been remanded to judicial custody till September 11. Meanwhile, the Bengaluru Fast Track Sessions Court (V) has postponed the hearing of Maudany’s bail plea to August 30.
The prosecution did not seek an extension of Maudany’s police custody when he was presented before the Bengaluru First Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate yesterday evening. The police as well as the state Home Minister VS Acharya had earlier hinted that the police might seek an extension of the custody. The Minister had also said that Maudany had confessed during the interrogation regarding his role in the blast at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. But the Police Commissioner refuted the minister’s claim the next day itself saying that Maudany was questioned only about the serial blasts of 2008. The new stand of the police not to seek extension of Maudany’s police custody follows the contrary statements of the minister and the police commissioner. Bengaluru Central Crime Branch (BCCB) DSP HM Om Karaiya later reportedly informed media persons that the police didn’t seek extension of his custody as they had stopped interrogating him for the time being. The police may seek his custody later if needed.
Meanwhile, Maudany was today taken to the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology as per the order of the Bengaluru First Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. He would be taken back to the Bengaluru Central Jail where he would be during the judicial custody. The Magistrate Venkatesh Hulagi had yesterday directed the jail authorities to ensure good medical treatment to Maudany. The court ordered to provide wheel chair and mattress considering Maudany’s handicap. It added that he should be provided all facilities to follow his religious practices. Maudany also reportedly informed the court in a written letter that he had no role in the Bengaluru serial blasts of 2008 and that the statement of the Karnataka Home Minister regarding his confession about the Stadium blasts was baseless. He added that he had no role at all in the blasts in the Chinnaswamy stadium that took place in April 2010.
In another development, Maudany’s bail plea submitted at the Bengaluru Fast Track Sessions Court (V) has been postponed to August 30. The court has also reportedly sent notice to the prosecution to present its counter-arguments. Maudany’s lawyers had yesterday submitted a bail plea in the Bengaluru Fast Track Sessions Court V. The plea reportedly says that the case and chargesheet against Maudany were fabricated along with the testimonies. The lawyers have also attached the Supreme Court order asking to consider Maudany’s bail plea urgently without considering the procedures and counter-arguments of the prosecution during the hearing of the anticipatory bail plea earlier in the same court. The court had rejected the anticipatory bail plea earlier which had prompted Maudany to approach the High Court and then the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court rejected the plea as Maudany was already arrested when the case was considered but added that he could approach the court of trial for bail.
Abdunnasir Maudany was arrested on August 17 as per the non-bailable arrest warrant issued against him in connection with the 2008 Bengaluru blast in which he was named 31st accused. The Karnataka police arrested him from Kerala and took him to Bengaluru where he was remanded to 10 days’ police custody which ended yesterday. Maudany has maintained he was innocent of the charges against him and said he would fight the legal battle to prove his part. Maudany was earlier accused in the 1998 Coimbatore blast case for which he was in jail for nearly 10 years before being released finding him innocent in August 2007. Since then he was under the B-category protection of the state government. However, now he has again been named in another blast case and there are also reports that efforts are on to accuse him in other blast cases in the country too.