By TCN Staff Correspondent,
Malappuram: PDP chairman Abdunnasir Maudany, who was recently accused and arrested in the 2002 Coimbatore Press Club bomb case, was not taken to the Coimbatore Court today. Maudany was to be presented before the Coimbatore Judicial Magistrate Court VII at 3 pm today, as per a production warrant. Maudany is presently in the Parappana Agrahara Central Jail in Bengaluru as an under-trial in the 2008 Bengaluru blast case.
The Bengaluru Court had permitted to take Maudany to Coimbatore but on condition that he should be taken and brought back by air only, considering his health conditions. But he was not taken by air today. There have also been reports that he would be presented before the Magistrate via videoconference. But, the Coimbatore Court reportedly refused for it as law demands that an accused should be presented in person before the Magistrate for the first remand in a case. So the Magistrate has reportedly postponed the date for producing Maudany in the court to October 29.
Meanwhile, another report suggests that the Chennai High Court rejected the bail plea of Maudany in the Coimbatore case as it was an anticipatory bail plea. Since the arrest of Maudany has already been recorded by the Tamil Nadu police, directly meeting Maudany at the Bengaluru jail, the anticipatory bail plea had become invalid. However, there are reports that Adv Shankar Subbu submitted the plea without considering with Maudany, while Maudany had already asked a lawyer based in Calicut to submit a bail plea for him in the case. The Malayali lawyer, who had represented other Malayalis accused in the case, had even visited Maudany in the jail, according to reports.
The Tamil Nadu police went to the Parappana Agrahara Central Jail in Bengaluru, where Maudany is an under-trial at present as he is 31st accused in the 2008 Bengaluru blast case, and recorded his arrest on September 27. Then the Coimbatore Judicial Magistrate Court VII issued a production warrant, by which Maudany had to be produced at the Court at 3 pm on October 3. The production warrant was reportedly handed over to the Superintendent of the Bengaluru jail.
The incident related to the case took place on December 30, 2002, when explosives were found near the Coimbatore Press Club. Maudany was in the Coimbatore jail at that time as an under-trial in the 1998 Coimbatore blast case, in which he was acquitted and released in 2007. The investigation into the case has already been completed and some persons have been punished also, according to reports. But the case was again taken up following an order for re-investigation. There have been reports that the Tamil Nadu police had tried to include Maudany’s wife Soofiya in the case, but could not. The police version has it that the bomb were placed near the Press Club to protest against the insult meted out to Soofiya Maudany at the hands of the Coimbatore jail authorities when she was visiting Maudany in jail.
Maudany was arrested in the Bengaluru blast case in 2010 August, barely three years after his release from the Coimbatore jail. He was remanded to police custody for 10 days, and then to judicial custody which has been extended since. His bail plea was rejected by the Karnataka High Court which prompted him to approach the Supreme Court early this year. An earlier division bench of the Supreme Court made a split order on his bail plea and the plea was then transferred to another bench, which will consider it on October 12.
Meanwhile, the Bengaluru Special Court has postponed the trial in the case to October 12. The proceedings of trial will begin on the day if none of the accused submits discharge petition. The proceedings in the case have been postponed several times, as many of the accused did not get lawyers. The procedures are going on in the Special Fast-track court No 35, inside the Parappana Agrahara Central Jail, where all the accused are.