Kerala CM asks K'taka to slash security expenses for Maudany visit

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday that the state government was ready to make security arrangements for the scheduled visit of People's Democratic Party (PDP) leader Abdul Nasser Maudany.

The government’s decision follows uncertainty over the visit of Maudany, lodged in Bengaluru’s Parappana Agrahara prison as accused in the 2008 Bengaluru serial blasts case. The Supreme Court had allowed the PDP leader to visit Kerala to attend his son’s wedding in Thalassery, on August 9. A National Investigation Agency court had also allowed him to visit his aged parents in Kerala.

Maudany, however, is learnt to be planning to cancel his visit after the Karnataka police sought from him a deposit of Rs 14.29 lakh as expenses for his security personnel during the visit.

Chief Minister Vijayan has written to Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah expressing the state's willingness to provide security for Maudany and requesting reduction in the proposed deposit which Vijayan said was beyond Maudany’s means. “The stipulation over security expenses renders ineffective the Supreme Court directive which was made on humanitarian grounds. The move could be the part of the efforts to stop Maudany’s visit,” Vijayan said.

Maudany has visited the state three times as a remanded prisoner, between 2013 and 2016. No money was collected from him during the first two visits and Rs 50,000 was collected for the third. “The amount proposed now is exorbitant; this effectively denies justice to him,” the Chief Minister said.

Earlier, PDP leaders conveyed concerns regarding uncertainties over the visit to the chief minister.