PDP leader Maudany arrested, asks followers to remain peaceful (Third Lead)

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Abdul Nazir Maudany was Tuesday arrested for his alleged involvement in the 2008 Bangalore bombings. As he was being taken to Bangalore, he asserted his innocence and appealed to his followers to maintain peace.

“I make a strong appeal to my supporters that they should behave themselves and not to see this as a Hindu-Muslim issue,” said Maudany before being taken inside the airport here.

A group of 20 PDP supporters were arrested at Karungapally for stoning vehicles in protest against the arrest.

PDP vice chairman Poonthura Siraj told reporters at the airport that they have not called any shut down in the state Wednesday but would observe a “black day”.

“We will be observing tomorrow (Wednesday) as a black day because Maudany was denied his fundamental rights and the Karnataka police could have waited as his plea was coming up at the apex court in the afternoon,” he said.

Ending eight days of suspense, the PDP chief was arrested by a posse of Karnataka and Kerala police as he stepped into a van to proceed to the court to surrender amid emotional scenes at the orphanage run by him as a large number of children wept and kissed him goodbye.

Earlier, Maudany called a press conference at his residence-cum-party headquarters at Anwarassery near Kollam, 90 km from here, which also houses a mosque and the orphanage, and announced that he would surrender before a court after finishing his noon prayers.

After praying for about 15 minutes, emotional scenes were seen when a large number of the children in the orphanage kissed him and bid goodbye.

Coming out of the mosque in his wheel chair, Maundany was lifted and put inside the vehicle with his wife and two sons and some party office bearers accompanying him.

The van had just begun to move when a large contingent of Kerala police officials led by Kollam Superintendent of Police Harshita Ataloori surrounded the van. Karnataka police official Omkarayyah got into the vehicle and told Maudany that he has been arrested and they have a warrant from a court in Bangalore.

The police asked all except Maudany’s wife and sons to alight from the vehicle.

A police driver took charge of the wheel, while a woman police official also got into the vehicle besides a few other police officials and was taken to the airport.

Large crowds had gathered on the roads to see Maudany and were seen waving to him.

At Kottarakara, following a suspected problem in the brakes of the vehicle that he was travelling in, he was shifted to another vehicle belonging to a top police official.

About 50 PDP supporters had gathered outside the Thiruvananthapuram airport and shouting slogans in his favour.

Before entering the terminal of the airport which the police had cordoned off, Maudany was seen speaking to his wife, Sufiya.

Denying his involvement in the 2008 bombing in which one person was killed and 15 were injured, Maudany told reporters that it was a “conspiracy hatched politically” and reiterated that he was innocent.

“I don’t think I will return from Karnataka. You now wait and see. Once I am there in Karnataka, you should not be surprised if my name features in a case in Gujarat or even the Mumbai bomb blasts and even in the World Trade Centre blast,” he said.

He also thanked the state government for showing “mature behaviour by not barging into the orphanage” he has set up in his residence.

Meanwhile, Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told reporters at Kozhikode that the Karnataka director general of police had called up his Kerala counterpart and thanked him.

Karnataka Home Minister V.S. Acharaya Monday had expressed anguish over the delay on the part of the Kerala government in helping his police officials execute the warrant.