IANS

Kozhikode, Dec 9: People's Democratic Party (PDP) chairman Abdul Nazir Maudany Tuesday said he had met T. Nazeer, the south India chief of terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba, a few times but he had never been a member of either the PDP or the Islamic Sevak Sangh (ISS), which was banned in 1992.

Nazeer and his accomplice Shafaz, who hail from Kannur district of Kerala, were picked up by sleuths from the Meghalaya border last week. They are alleged to be the masterminds of the 2005 terror attack on the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore.

"Yes, I have met Nazeer a few times before I was jailed (in the Coimbatore bomb blast case in 1998) and after I was exonerated. He used to call me and would say that I should not behave in a subdued manner. There were instances when he used to abuse me when I told him that I can only protest in a democratic manner," Maudany told reporters here.

Maudany has been in the news ever since media reports surfaced that the decision to send IG of Police Tomin J. Thachenkery to interrogate Nazeer, now in custody in Bangalore, was meant to save Maudany and his wife Sufiya, who according to reports is close to Nazeer.

With regard to the Kalamaserry bus burning in 2005, in which the prime accused is Nazeer, Maudany said after the incident "my life in the jail became worse and I suffered a lot".

He also said that details of reports that Nazeer had political links should be made public.

"We are a small political party and we never enjoyed any power, but I am interested to know which political party supported Nazeer," added Maudany.