Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 7 (IANS) The Congress-led opposition Monday said the Kerala government had a moral responsibility in the 2008 Bangalore blasts because the kingpin of the blasts, T. Nazeer now under arrest, was let off by the police here after it had taken him into custody.
Addressing reporters here Monday after a meeting of the United Democratic Front (UDF), the convenor P.P. Thankachan said the Kerala government cannot shirk its moral responsibility.

“Nazeer, after being taken into custody was let off following intervention at the highest level. Information to release Nazeer was made over telephone and he was let off. The entire operation to plant bombs in Bangalore was done in Kerala and it took place as planned here,” Thankachen said.

The UDF also expressed dissatisfaction at the manner in which the government deputed Inspector General of Police Tomin J. Thachenkeri to Bangalore to pursue the case.

“The government has formed a Anti-Terror Squad and instead of handing over the investigation to this squad it has been handed over to a officer like Thachenkeri who is close to the CPI-M. This is being done to thwart the investigation,” Thankachen added.

Nazeer is identified as the south Indian chief of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and on two occasions he had reportedly come under the state police scanner and on both occasions he was let off.

Nazeer and his accomplice, Shafaz, hail from Kannur district in the state and have been involved in a number of cases in the state, police say. Nazeer was allegedly also involved in the 2005 terror attack on the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore in which a retired Indian Institute of Technology professor M.C. Puri was killed.

Nazeer has reportedly admitted that he was a member of the banned Islamic Sevak Sangh (ISS) and was later with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), both founded by Abdul Nazir Maudany.

When asked to name those who spoke for Nazeer to be released, Thankachen said: “Let those in government deny what I have said and then I will name (them).”