Madhani's wife held in TN bus burning case

Prima facie evidence against Sufiya: HC

The arrest, which was expected, came a day after the Karnataka police confirmed that Thadiyantavide Nazeer and Shafaz who are in their custody in connection with the Bangalore blasts case were members of the PDP.

The high court said that there was prima facie evidence against Sufiya in the incident which was nothing short of an act of terror and that bail could not be granted to her.

The case involved hijacking a bus belonging to the Tamil Nadu State Road Transport Corporation which was proceeding to Salem from Kochi and setting it on fire near Kalamassery. The police recently submitted a fresh charge sheet in the case according to which T Nazeer is the first accused and Sufiya the tenth accused. The accused allegedly committed the crime in protest against the ill-treatment of Madhani in the Coimbatore jail.

Phone calls

Nazeer’s arrest and his statements to the police are reasons which are widely believed to have led to Sufiya’s “much delayed’’ arrest. What seemed to have confirmed Sufiya’s role in the incident are the statements given by Nazeer as well as another accused named Tajudeen. The special investigation team which probed the case also has evidence that both Nazeer and Tajudeen had called Sufiya on her cell phone before and after burning the bus. Nazeer is reported to have told the police that the accused stayed at Sufiya’s house in Kochi and planned the crime.  

Madhani had claimed that his wife was in no  way involved in any terrorist activity and that her arrest was a result of the LDF’s political compulsions. Denying this, Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said that the law was taking its own course. He accused the previous UDF Government of having foisted false cases against innocent people in the bus-burning case to save terror-accused like Nazeer.