CBI court Judge S Vijay Kumar remanded the duo to judicial custody till March 11. Later, they were taken to Viyuur Central Jail in Thrissur. Earlier, the terror accused, who had been in Bengaluru police custody in connection with the 2008 serial blasts there, were handed over to NIA and brought here by a flight. The two were brought to the Kochi court amidst tight security.
Nazir, a resident of Kannur, was suspected to have masterminded a well orchestrated network to recruit youths from Kerala to the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayiba to carry out subversive activities. He had remained elusive for months till his arrest in 2009 along the Indo-Bangladesh border.
Nazir had confessed to have plotted the March 2006 blasts in two crowded bus stations in Kozhikode and torching of a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation bus near Kochi in 2005 to protest the detention of People's Democratic Party leader Abdul Naser Madhani in connection with the 1998 Coimbatore serial blasts. Shafas is also an accused in both the cases.
A large crowd had assembled outside the CBI Special Court trying NIA cases, when the two accused were brought there. When the vehicle carrying the two accused entered the compound, cameramen and photographers, who were waiting for long hours, jostled to have a closer view of the duo.
The two were taken to the chamber of the judge and the proceedings were completed in about half an hour. Tight security arrangements has been deployed at the court with gun wielding policemen keeping a vigil. The accused were brought by a six-member NIA official team.
