By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Bengaluru: The judicial custody of PDP chairman Abdunnasir Maudany was yesterday extended till September 14 by the First Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court. Meanwhile, Bengaluru Central Crime Branch DCP Om Karaiya has been ordered to present himself before the Kollam CJM court in a case related to the arrest of Maudany.
All the other 13 accused besides Maudany, arrested in connection with the 2008 Bengaluru blast case, were presented before Judge Venkatesh Hulagi via video-conferencing and the judicial custody extended as it was to end yesterday. Maudany could not be presented as he was reportedly undergoing medical treatment at the hospital in the Parappana Agrahara Central Jail.
Meanwhile, the Kollam CJM court has ordered the Bengaluru Assistant Police Commissioner Om Karaiya to be present in court on September 13 in a case related to the arrest of Maudany. The case filed by Maudany’s relative Abdul Salam in the court accused that legal procedures were not followed in the arrest of Maudany. The court had sent summons to Om Karaiya and Kollam SP Harshida Attalloori on August 17. Public Prosecutor Adv Raju was present in the court yesterday for the Kollam SP. But the case had to be postponed to September 13 as neither Om Karaiya nor his lawyer was present. The petition reportedly says that a person arrested as per a warrant should be presented in a court within 30 kilometres and the same was not followed in the case of Maudany. The Criminal Procedure Code directs that the accused should be presented before the Chief Magistrate in the district or the District Sessions Judge who can give bail to the arrested. The procedure was not followed in the case of Maudany who was arrested at Anvarssery in Kollam, then taken to Thiruvananthapuram and from there to Bengaluru. He was produced before a Magistrate only in Bengaluru.
Maudany’s lawyer Adv P Usman has reportedly asked for a copy of the chargesheet. The lawyer of another accused Badrudheen also had asked for the same when the case was considered on August 17, but did not receive it. The Judge ordered the investigating officer to hand over the copies of the chargesheet for those who had requested for it.
The ‘Justice for Maudany Forum’ (JMF) is collecting funds from all over the state to help the legal battle of Maudany. The forum will collect funds after Jumu’a on this Friday (September 3) in the masjids in the state. Funds will be collected under the supervision of the JMF, which is a common forum of 20 organisations. The office-bearers of the forum demanded a probe into the plot of the Intelligence Bureau and the BJP to frame Maudany in more cases after framing him in the Bengaluru blast case.
Meanwhile, the Bengaluru Fast-track Sessions Court (V) postponed the hearing on Maudany’s bail plea to September 2. The hearing was postponed as the judge was on leave for two days.
Abdunnasir Maudany was arrested by the Karnataka police from Kerala on August 17 in connection with the 2008 Bengaluru blast case in which he was 31st accused. He was remanded to 10 days police custody and then remanded to judicial custody which was extended till September 14 yesterday. Maudany has maintained he was innocent of the charges and vowed to fight the legal battle. He accused that the charges were fabricated and that he was framed in the case. Meanwhile, the Home Minister in the BJP government of Karnataka accused Maudany of involvement in the Chinnaswamy stadium blasts of April 2010 but the Bengaluru police themselves refuted the claim. The police and the minister had earlier said that they would seek an extension of his custody, but they didn’t. The police had also said that they would question his wife Soofiya, but now say that she won’t be questioned immediately.
Maudany was earlier accused in the 1998 Coimbatore blasts and was in jail for nearly 10 years before being released finding him innocent of the charges.