This Article is From Dec 17, 2009

Kerala politician's wife, Sufiya, arrested

Anwarssery: Sufiya Madani, the wife of Kerala politician Abdul Nasser Madani , has been arrested.

Madani is the head of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), and he campaigned extensively for the ruling Left front in the general elections earlier this year. So his wife's alleged links with terrorists have embarrassed the Kerala government.

Sufiya is accused of working with a senior Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) terrorist to set a bus on fire in Kalamassery near Kochi in 2005, in protest against her husband being mistreated in a prison.

Abdul Nasser Madani was arrested for alleged involvement in the Coimbatore bomb blasts in 1998, which targeted LK Advani during his visit to Coimbatore for a public rally. Advani was not injured but nearly 60 other people died in those blasts. Madani was later acquitted in the case in 2007.

The charges against Sufiya state that while she plotted the bus burning, T Nazeer executed the attack. Nazeer, arrested recently at the Bangladesh border, is also believed to be LeT's South India chief and the mastermind behind last year's serial blasts in Bangalore.

Madani says the charges are a right-wing conspiracy aimed at putting his wife and him in prison. The police have been worried that PDP supporters will react violently in areas like Kollam, where Madani's party is popular. Madani says he will cooperate with investigations. Given Sufiya's alleged connections to Nazeer, there has been speculation that she will be taken to Karnataka for questioning about the Bangalore blasts. In a fairly direct warning, Madani has said that if Sufiya is taken to BJP-ruled Karnataka, his supporters may get rough.
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