Nasir's 'press meet': Home ministry raps Kerala

The home ministry has sought an explanation from the Kerala government on how the  state police allowed  suspected commander of Lashkar-e-Tayiba's south India operations Thadiyantavida Nasir to interact with media persons at a court in Kochi on Wednesday.

The state police has also drawn flak for allowing the media to take photographs of Nasir and Shahbas, another accused in the Kozhikode twin blasts case.

Shahbas was scheduled to be part of an identification parade, but now that his photographs have been splashed in the media, the National Investigation Agency team is trying to figure out whether such a parade would still be legally valid.

Home Minister P Chidambaram has reportedly taken strong exception to the issue after he was briefed by top officials of the Research and Analysis Wing and the Intelligence Bureau.

Sources in the home ministry told rediff.com that the state government and the police should have taken extra care while dealing with terror operatives.

Nasir had categorically told the media that he had not implicated People's Democratic Party leader Abdul Nasir Madani, who was recently named as the 31st accused in the Bengaluru serial bomb blasts.

Sources told rediff.com that some senior officials of the state police were behind Nasir speaking about Madani. The home ministry is worried that Nasir's comments will create the impression that the Kerala police is trying to use a wanted terrorist like Nasir to exonerate Madani.

A top NIA officer told rediff.com that Nasir had indeed revealed the role played by Madani in planning the Bengaluru blasts to officials of the NIA and the Karnataka police.

Home ministry sources indicated that Nasir's statement about Madani was conveyed to Chidambaram, who urged the investigating officials to take stringent action against all officials responsible.