Kerala is on high alert on the eve of the pronouncement of verdicts in the Coimbatore serial blasts case in which People’s Democratic Party chairman Abdul Nasser Madhani is an accused.
Madhani who is handicapped and ailing has been languishing in jail for the past nine years as he is the 14th accused in the case.
In all, 52 people were killed, many wounded and property worth Rs 100 crore damaged in a series of 19 blasts in Coimbatore on February 14, 1998, targeting BJP leader L K Advani.
Madhani (42) is accused of helping to procure ammunition for the blasts. Political parties in the state have been seeking his support regularly for all elections as he has a significant influence in some Muslim pockets. Police fear a backlash from the activists of the party if he is found guilty. In the past, the Congress-led UDF and the CPM-led LDF had both appealed to the TN government to release him on humanitarian grounds.
The LDF had received the unconditional support of the PDP in the assembly elections. Following this, CM V S Achuthanandan had met his Tamil Nadu counterpart M Karunanidhi to request his intervention in Madhani’s case. But the courts refused to release him on bail as the prosecution argued that he would tamper with evidence and his release would create unrest. Madhani had launched the Islamic Sewak Sangh as a counter to the RSS in the aftermath of Babri Masjid demolition.
On August 6, 1992, he lost his right leg in a bomb attack, allegedly by the RSS activists. When the ISS was banned, he launched the PDP claiming it to be an alliance  of Muslims, Dalits and Backward classes. He was arrested on April 8, 1998, by the state police on charges of making provocative speeches and sent to Kannur Central Jail.
Dalit killings: 21 sentenced to life
Hyderabad, ians:  In a landmark judgment, a special court in Andhra Pradesh's Guntur district on Tuesday sentenced 21 people to life imprisonment for killing eight Dalits in 1991.
The special court set up under the SC/STs Prevention of Atrocities Act, 1989, also sentenced 35 other accused to one year’s rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 2,000 each.
Eight Dalits were killed and several others were injured allegedly by upper caste people on August 6, 1991, at Tsundur village in Guntur district, about 350 km from here.