Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has accused Bangladeshi migrants of seeking birth certificates illegally in the state to obtain voting rights, labeling it as "vote jihad part 2". He claimed that nearly 100 such cases have been reported in Amravati and Malegaon tehsil in Nashik. Fadnavis reiterated his government's commitment to combating anarchist forces and urged people to remain vigilant. He also lauded the BJP's performance in the recent assembly polls, attributing the victory to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership.
It was a mixed bag for 11 seats with more than 35 percent Muslim voters, where six candidates of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi emerged victorious in the Maharashtra assembly polls on Saturday, while four seats went to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti alliance.
'At the airport, some people held me like a mother holds her child's cheeks. I have never experienced these kinds of things.'
A witness who is a former army official turned hostile in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast trial in Mumbai on Thursday.
A special NIA court in Mumbai conducting trial in the 2008 Malegaon blast case on Tuesday directed all the seven accused, including BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, to appear before it on December 3.
With this, the Shiv Sena has become the second major political party to release its list of candidates for the state assembly polls. Its ally BJP released a list of 99 candidates on Sunday.
Purohit was doing his job as a military intelligence officer and was "framed" in the case, his lawyer and former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the high court on Friday.
Our ancestors did jihad against Britishers, but yours penned 'love letters', Owaisi said in a jibe to Fadnavis.
The witness deposed before the special National Investigation Agency court on Tuesday.
Owaisi said 324 farmers have died by suicide in "Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) division", but no one is talking about it.
Addressing a public event in Kolhapur city on Monday evening, Fadnavis pointed out instances wherein women were tricked into inter-faith marriage and subsequently abandoned after they gave birth to children.
A man was arrested on Saturday for his alleged involvement with the recent bomb blast in Malegaon and a forensic report said a mixture of RDX and ammonium nitrate was used in the explosion.Abdul Rehman Salem Chaus was held by the police also for his alleged involvement in violence after the explosion and for taking away the firearm belonging to the bodyguard of Additional Superintendent of Police Sanjay Patil.
"I have spent nine years in jail and have suffered a lot. Though I have been reinstated in service, this is an exception since, I have a good record," Shivade said on behalf of Purohit.
On April 8, relying on a compliance report submitted by National Investigation Agency on Thakur's medical condition, Special NIA Judge A K Lahoti granted her exemption from personal appearance but had asked the Bhopal Lok Sabha MP to remain present "without fail" before the court on April 20.
The Council of Indian Muslims in UK has also condemned the blasts.
At the Battle of Malegaon, Muslim soldiers in the Maratha army defied the British army for a full month when they had no hope of victory as the Chhatrapati and Peshwa had already surrendered.
Abrar Ahmed, suspected of planting bombs in the textile town of Malegaon that killed 31 people on September 8, was arrested on Saturday by the Anti-Terrorist Squad.
In the plea, the agency has submitted that the allegations against the accused are that they committed the offence to take revenge against "Muslim Jihadi activities" and "to create a rift between two communities".
With this, the number of arrests in the Malegaon case has risen to seven.
Shinde had retained most of the sitting MLAs, who chose to be with him when he led the rebellion two years ago. They delivered for him on Saturday when votes for the state polls were counted.
The court had on October 30 framed charges in the case against all the seven accused for terror activities, criminal conspiracy and murder, among others.
Thakur had appeared before the court in June last year after it ordered the seven accused to remain present once a week. She later sought exemption from appearance on various occasions since then.
Sri Ram Sene chief, Pramod Muthalik, whose outfit was behind the attack on a Mangalore pub. has denied knowing any of the persons wanted for their alleged involvement in Malegaon blast, a senior Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad official said on Monday.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad on Wednesday arrested Lieutenant Colonel Srikant Purohit in connection with the September 29 Malegaon blasts, an ATS official said. Purohit was interrogated two days ago by the ATS in connection with the blasts in Malegaon and was arrested today, Additional Commissioner of Police (ATS) Parambir Singh said. Singh, however, refused to reveal Purohit's role in the blasts.
Throwing its weight behind the Malegaon blast accused, including sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a group of advocates in Sonepat have set up a 17-member lawyers committee to provide legal assistance to them. The Hindu Unification Movement Legal and Welfare Association will provide legal assistance to the sadhvi and other accused, according to Bhupeshwar Dayal Gaur, a founder-member of the association.
The Anti Terrorist Squad on Thursday arrested a man on suspicion of involvement in the blasts in Malegaon that killed 31 people last month.
The four, who are in jail since their arrest in 2013, had approached the high court in 2016 after a special court rejected their bail pleas in June that year.
One of the prime conspirators of the blasts, Shabbir Batterwalla, had received training at a camp near Karachi in Pakistan in 2003.
Earlier reports had indicated that Hooda is a Bangladeshi national but the DGP said he was a resident of Malegaon.
Those arrested on Thursday included Muslims as well as Hindus.
They occurred only four days prior to the verdict in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case due on Tuesday.
Thakur sought exemption on the ground she is a Member of Parliament and has to attend the parliament on a day-to-day basis.
The high court was hearing Purohit's application seeking that all charges against him in the case be dropped. Six people were killed and 100 others injured when a bomb strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon city in Nashik district of Maharashtra on September 29, 2008.
One of the key accused in 2006 Malegaon bomb blasts case, Manohar Singh, has confessed to his role in the conspiracy, the National Investigation Agency on Sunday claimed in a special court.
The first death, that of an 11-year-old boy, has occurred due to 'Malegaon-fever' in the powerloom town, about 90 km from Nashik, official sources said Monday.
While five accused remained present in the court, judge P R Sitre expressed displeasure over the absence of two others. The court then directed all the seven accused to appear before it on January 4.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had a telephonic talk with L K Advani today close on the heels of the BJP leader attacking the Mumbai ATS for the treatment meted out to Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.
He had not played any role in the blast, Purohit had said, adding that he was in jail for the last seven years without trial.
The other accused in the Malegaon blast case question Lt Colonel Purohit's delayed change in stance. Say they will challenge it in court. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Pragya will undergo brain-mapping, polygraph and lie detector tests at Forensic Science Laboratory in suburban Santa Cruz, ATS Director Rukmani Krishnamurthy said. The Nashik court had permitted the ATS to conduct these psychological tests on Sadhvi.
