The family members of the Malleswaram bomb blast terror suspects, who arrived in Bangalore Thursday, managed to get permission to meet their arrested relatives from a city court after the police had turned down their request.
S.I. Abdul Kalam Bagadur Sha, their advocate, told The Hindu the court has permitted them to meet the suspects once in two days.
After Police Commissioner Raghavendra H. Auradkar refused to see them, the families — comprising mothers, wives, children and others of the three terror suspects — addressed the media and moved the first additional chief metropolitan magistrate’s court.
Speaking to reporters, the members demanded a thorough investigation into the blasts and the release of suspects if they are found innocent.
Sole breadwinners
Among the accused, Peer Mohideen and Basheer, who were picked up from Tamil Nadu, are the sole breadwinners. Rasool Mohideen, the brother-in-law of Peer Mohideen, a tea leaf vendor in Venkateshpura in Bangalore, who was detained and later released in Chennai, said Peer has a wife and three children aged 11, 10 and 8, while Basheer, a resident of Tirunelveli, has a wife and four children aged 8, 6, 5 and 10 months.
Basheer’s wife, Shamsunnisa, said her husband had no criminal background and he had never visited Bangalore.
Peer Mohideen had left for Chennai to attend Rasool’s daughter’s wedding. He had called Basheer to come and pick him up at Chennai. While Basheer left from Tirunelveli to Chennai on April 18, Peer left Bangalore the same day and reached Chennai the next day. Peer met Basheer and Rasool in Chennai on April 19 and they went to Mohammed Saleem, a relative, who works as an AC technician at Pothys Market in T. Nagar.
Picked up
The four, after having tea at a roadside stall, were about to leave for shopping when they were picked up by a team of 10 policemen in mufti. While Rasool and Mohammed were released on April 23 at 1 a.m., the police said Peer and Basheer were arrested after three days of detention.
Meanwhile, Daulat, the mother of the arrested suspect, Kichan Buhari, a caterer, who was running an NGO after his acquittal in the Coimbatore blast case, said her son had been away in Delhi to meet an advocate to discuss a bail plea for someone else. He had left Coimbatore on April 12, reaching Delhi on April 14 and stayed there for two days to attend the bail hearing in the Supreme Court. Buhari, along with his friend Mohammed Ali Khan, left Delhi on April 16 and reached Chennai on April 17 at 8.30 p.m. by Duranto Express, Ms. Daulat said.
After staying in Chennai for two days, he left for Coimbatore on April 19. The next day he met the lawyer of Saddam Hussain, a second-hand bike dealer who was in Salem jail in connection with an assault case. Saddam Hussain is the fourth person in Bangalore police’s custody in connection with the Malleswaram blast. He is accused of being the agent who sold the motorcycle to which the bomb was strapped.
Buhari was arrested on April 22 when he was waiting at the Madepalyam bus-stand along with his two friends Sulaiman and Saleh, who were released the next day.
No comment
Joint Commissioner of Police S. Murugan refused to comment on the families’ claims. He said investigations are on the right track, but was mum on the detentions.
