Nine Muslim men, who were arrested in the 2006 Malegaon blasts and in jail for the past four years, on Monday moved a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court seeking bail citing Swami Aseemanand's confession pointing to a right-wing group's involvement in the attack that killed 36 persons.
The 2007 Ajmer Shariff blast was carried out to deter Hindus from going to the famous shrine and the act was carried out by a group of extremists whose members belonged to both majority and minority communities, Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the case has said in his confessional statement.
Nine persons, who have been lodged in jail for the last four years on charges of their involvement in the Malegaon bomb blasts, are preparing the sue the Anti-Terrorism Squad for allegedly falsely implicating them in the case, following the confession by Swami Aseemanand of his involvement in it. The blasts that rocked the textile town in September 2006 had resulted in the death of 32 people.
While there is a debate still on whether Swami Aseemanand actually confessed on his own after being touched by the conduct of a former accused in the Mecca Masjid case or that he did so under duress, the fact remains that there is a ray of hope among many youths who continue to languish in jails after being implicated in the above mentioned cases.
The National Investigation Agency on Thursday told a Mumbai court it has found no evidence to link nine Muslims arrested in the 2006 Malegaon blasts case to the terror attack, a move that could see them walk free.
The agency said that it could not find any 'strong evidence' against Indresh Kumar, Sadhvi Pragya, Rajendra and Ramesh alias Prince.
Triggering controversy over capital punishment to Yakub Memon in Mumbai blasts case, All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday sought to know whether the perpetrators of demolition of disputed structure in Ayodhya, communal riots of Mumbai and Gujarat and other such sensational cases would get a similar punishment.
On March 8, the court had convicted Patel, Gupta and Joshi in the case while acquitting others including Swami Aseemanand.
"If Hindus had been terrorists, then no other terrorists have existed."
Shah said before the Yogi Adityanath dispensation assumed office, Uttar Pradesh was known for 'goonda raj' and bad law and order. '...Yogi government has established rule of law,' he said.
The federal probe agency has wrapped up only one terror case since its inception in 2009. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Pakistan on Thursday said it was serious in the trial of Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi and in bringing the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack to justice even as it rejected reports the US had shared any "critical" evidence with it about the mastermind.
'He has terror charges against him. And for an army officer, it's just terrible.'
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday tore into the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, blaming its "appeasement politics" for the failure of law enforcement agencies to rein in terror activities when it was in power and claiming it raised the "bogey of Hindu terror" to "misdirect" investigation.
The National Investigation Agency is well aware that it does not have a strong case in hand to keep the 2006 Malegaon blast case accused behind bars. Vicky Nanjappa reports
However, the certified copy of the said order was issued by the court only on May 1, 2015.
'Once you set up a tweet-storm of vilification, labelling individuals anti-nationals, traitors, blasphemous, and foreign agents, you are creating enough justification for somebody with a gun to kill, or for a mob to lynch,' warns Shekhar Gupta.
More than six years after the Hyderabad Mecca Masjid blast and local police falsely implicating dozens of local Muslim youngsters, the case continues to haunt both the minority community as well as the Andhra Pradesh government.
'He has not done any harm to anyone. Yet you give him life imprisonment.' 'We were told to respect the Constitution. That is what Sai is doing; he is not doing anything beyond the Constitution.'
If this election is about Narendra Modi, then it is also about the RSS, notes Mihir S Sharma.