PDP leader Madhani's wife gets bail

Judge D Pappachen granted the bail on condition that she surrendered her passport in a week’s time and would not leave the district.

Sufiya, who is the 10th accused in the torching of a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus at Kalamassery near Kochi, was arrested on Friday after the high court refused her anticipatory bail. The sessions court said there was no need to keep the accused indefinitely in custody as the prosecution had not presented any other evidence other than the phone calls purportedly made by her. Her poor health also seemed to have played a key role in securing bail.

The BJP has accused the prosecution of presenting a weak case to enable Sufiya to secure bail. Party youth wing leader K Surendran pointed out that the prosecution did not present in the sessions court many facts which were submitted before the High Court to deny her anticipatory bail.

“We want to know whether the prosecution will show a similar gesture towards the other accused in the case,’’ Surendran said.
The police had in their remand report, presented in the High Court, claimed that Sufiya was the “key conspirator’’ in the case and several of the accused had met at her house in Kochi before the incident.