Bangalore : A joint team of Kerala and Karnataka police on Tuesday arrested Muslim cleric Abdul Nassar Madani (45), an accused in 2008 Bangalore serial blasts case, without much resistance. Earlier in the morning the police had given an ultimatum to the defiant cleric to surrender before 1.15 pm or else they would enter his orphanage-cum-religious centre to arrest him. Soon after noon prayers he came out of his camp then the police told him about the Bangalore court warrant and effected his arrest.
Though tension is prevailing in the area no untoward incident is reported so far. He will be produced in a court in Kollam 65 kms north of Thiruvananthapuram and will be taken to Karnataka by this evening.
Madani was named as an accused in an additional charge sheet filed by the Karnataka police in 2008 Bangalore blasts case. Earlier, the Karnataka High Court had turned down his anticipatory bail. His name cropped up in Bangalore blasts case during the interrogation of arrested Lashker-e-Tayyeba suspect Thadiyantavida Nazeer. Nazeer was arrested in Bangladesh in December last and handed over to the authorities in India. He reportedly told the Bangalore police that Madani knew about the plan to bomb the IT capital.
Earlier, Madani was arrested two months after Coimbatore’s February 1998 explosions, the target of which was BJP leader LK Advani. He remained behind bars until a special court released him in 2006. The Kerala assembly then had passed a unanimous resolution seeking his release on “humanitarian grounds”. This was just before the Congress-led United Democratic Front lost power in the State. In the Lok Sabha elections of 2009, the CPI(M) aligned with the PDP and supported his candidate in the northern Ponnani constituency  (in Malappuram district).