Maudany plea infructuous

With the Karnataka police arresting the Kerala-based People's Democratic Party leader Abdul Nasir Maudany in the 2008 Bangalore serial blasts case, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked him to seek regular bail in a competent court.

As Mr. Maudany was already arrested, his anticipatory bail plea became infructuous and he should seek regular bail. If so advised, he could also apply for interim bail, said a Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and T. S. Thakur, disposing of his special leave petition (SLP). It said the competent court would decide on the bail or interim bail plea expeditiously, uninfluenced by the observations of the trial court or the Karnataka High Court.

Earlier, senior counsel Pinaki Mishra, appearing for Mr. Maudany, said the non-bailable warrant against the PDP leader had been kept pending and he was arrested on Monday afternoon only to frustrate his efforts at seeking anticipatory bail.

Counsel for Karnataka Sanjay Hegde informed the Bench of the arrest and said nothing survived in the SLP directed against the High Court's order refusing Mr. Maudany anticipatory bail.

Mr. Mishra said the High Court had wrongly applied Section 43 d (4) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act to deny him bail. It had described the blasts as a terrorist act and taken into consideration Section 43 (d) (4), which prohibited grant of bail for such terrorist acts.

“Deliberate inclusion”

Staff Reporter reports from Bangalore

Meanwhile, Justice Subash B. Adi of the High Court has posted to Wednesday Mr. Maudany's petition challenging the inclusion of his name in the charge sheet filed by the Bangalore police in the case of the blasts, in which one woman was killed and several persons were injured. He has been named the 31st accused.

The PDP leader said he was not at all involved in the case and that his name was deliberately included. “How come my name was not mentioned during the initial stages?”