State cops all set to arrest Madani

Six-member team arrives in Kochi

The six-member team led by Deputy Commissioner of Police Siddhappa arrived in Kochi on Tuesday and met City Police Commissioner Manoj Abraham as Madani’s residence is, according to case records, in Kochi. The team handed over a letter from the Bangalore joint police commissioner to Abraham.

However, the team was escorted to Kollam since Madani is presently staying in his ancestral home in Anwarsseri in the district. The team met Kollam Superintendent of Police Harshita Attalloori who extended all cooperation to them for facilitating the arrest. “The date and timing of the arrest is for them to decide,’’ she told newsmen.

However, the Karnataka police are believed to have told her that the arrest should be made at the earliest.

Apparently, the arrest was delayed so far by the presence of hundreds of PDP workers and sympathisers who have been stationed in front of Madani’s home for the last one month. The activists, including women, feel that the case against Madani is fabricated. They said they will resist any move to arrest him. Madani has said that he would cooperate fully with the Bangalore police and has called upon his supporters to stay calm. In the wake of the resistance move, additional reinforcements have been rushed to Anwarsseri to prevent any tension.

Madani has been claiming that the present case against him is concocted and that he had full faith in the judiciary. “I am a practising Muslim and I have fear of god. I believe that a true Muslim will under no circumstances endorse violence or terrorism,’’ he told newsmen at Anwarsseri.

As reported, the move to arrest Madhani comes in the wake of the Bangalore High Court denying anticipatory bail to him. Though Madani was jailed for nine years in connection with the 1998 serial bombings in Coimbatore, he was acquitted for want of evidence.