Over a thousand people, including women and children, were admitted to government and private hospitals in powerloom town of Malegaon in Nashik following complaints of fever, a senior official said Wednesday.
The nine are accused of carrying out four serial blasts in Malegaon on September 8, 2006, in which 31 people were killed and 312 injured.
The Anti-Terrorist Squad on Sunday arrested Raees Ahmed for his complicity in the September 8 blasts in Malegaon that killed 31 people.
The probe is being carried out by the local police with the help of Anti-Terrorist Squad and Central intelligence agencies.
Retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, an accused in the Malegaon blast case, on Monday filed his nomination from Bairia Assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh through his son Vishal.
Exactly a year after the Malegaon blast shook the powerloom town in Maharashtra leaving seven people dead, one of the surviving victims has revealed that he had alerted the local police about an abandoned scooter, but no action had been taken.
The Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Sqaud investigating the Malegaon blasts case questioned Abhinav Bharat president Himani Savarkar for over three hours on Sunday. Almost all those accused arrested in connection with Malegaon blast are affiliated to the organisation, sources said. Savarkar, who has been head the outfit since April, was questioned at the ATS cell in Pune and was told that she could be summoned again if required.
Hindu extremist groups who carried out blasts the 2006 Malegaon blasts misled disguised as Muslims wearing fake beards to mislead investigators and avenge the minority community. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Lieutenant-Colonel Srikant Purohit,one of the accused in the 2008 Malegaon case has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, alleging that the Maharashtra Anti Terrorrism Squad has fabricated the case against him.
A special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court in Mumbai on Monday granted custody of Sameer Kulkarni, one of the founder-members of right-wing group Abhinav Bharat, to the Madhya Pradesh police while remanding ten Malegaon blast accused to judicial custody till January 6.The MP police had sought the custody of Kulkarni, also accused in the September 29 Malegaon blast case, for allegedly instigating a mob to attack a church in Jabalpur and setting it on fire.
Apparently distancing itself from the Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur episode, the Hindu Mahasabha has said it does not support terrorism by anyone and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of encashing on Hindu sentiments by coming out in support of the Malegaon blast accused."The BJP is encashing on religious sentiments of Hindus again for their politics. Earlier they had encashed on the Ram janmabhoomi issue and this time it wants to encash on Malegaon," the ABHM said.
Two members of the Mumbai ATS -- Inspector Vakhade and Assistant Inspector Sayyad -- had arrived in Mangalore city on Friday to interrogate Muthalik. The decision to interrogate Muthalik was taken following the statements of Lt Colonel Purohit (Malegaon blast prime accused). "I don't think the ATS has anything against me," he told media persons outside the court, adding, "I also don't think I will be arrested."
The ATS team was sent to probe the blast at Malegaon's Bhikhu Chowk area late Monday night, Joint Commissioner of Police (ATS) Hemant Karkare said.
The NIA had also not opposed her bail application.
The National Investigation Agency has accused the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad of planting evidence and coercing witnesses, but its own investigation is incomplete and leaves many questions unanswered.
The National Investigation Agency on Saturday made its first arrest in connection with Maharashtra's 2006 Malegaon bombing after the role of right-wing groups came to the fore with the nabbing of Swami Aseemanand last year.
The ghosts of Malegaon blast are still haunting the Congress at the textile mill town. After a losing streak in the Lok Sabha and state assembly elections, the Congress again lost in the mayor elections for the Malegaon Municipal Corporation held on Tuesday morning.
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 Central Bureau of Investigation got the nod to re-investigate the 2006 Malegaon case on Thursday. The decision by the MCOCA court throws open a lot of questions regarding the earlier investigation and the CBI now has its task cut out since it will not only have to deal with the new set of accused but also with the nine other accused who have been languishing in jail ever since the attack took place.
In a sensational claim, a suspended Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad officer has told a Solapur court that two of the absconding accused in 2008 Malegaon blasts case are in fact dead but falsely shown as "alive" by high ranking police officers.
The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed.
The four accused had applied for bail in February earlier this year. The 2006 Malegaon case comprised of two sets of accused.
All the 11 accused in Malegaon blast case, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, were today remanded to judicial custody till January 20 by a special MCOCA court here.
'When Fadnavis takes our help, it was sabka saath.' 'But when we support his rival, the latter is branded as appeasing Muslims.'
The NIA's chargesheet in the 2006 Malegaon blasts mocks the investigation conducted by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad into the matter, reports Vicky Nanjappa
Terming "false and malafide" the media reports of his involvement in the Malegaon blast, VHP leader Pravin Togadia on Monday threatened to take legal action for dragging his name into the case.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram recently declared that the National Investigation Agency will not oppose the bail pleas of the nine Muslim youths arrested in connection with the 2006 Malegaon blasts. Toral Varia analyses the reasons behind this decision and what are the new leads being explored by the NIA.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram recently declared that the National Investigation Agency will not oppose the bail pleas of the nine Muslim youths arrested in connection with the 2006 Malegaon blasts. Toral Varia analyses the reasons behind this decision and what are the new leads being explored by the NIA.
The alleged role of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh member Indresh Kumar in orchestrating the Malegaon blasts of 2006 had shocked many supporters of the right-wing organisation.
Amid reports that Pakistan may seek extradition of Malegaon blast accused Lieuteant Colonel Shrikant Purohit in the Samjhauta Express blast case, India on Tuesday virtually rejected the demand, saying Islamabad had no locus standi in the investigations involving the Army officer."The case (Malegaon blast) is under examination by the Anti-Terror Squad (of Maharashtra Police). It is our internal matter. We are investigating it. How can Pakistan be concerned with that,"he said.
The Mumbai ATS is interrogating a junior commissioned officer and two jawans of the Indian Army in connection with the Malegaon blast case, defence sources have said.
Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad is considering pressing charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against all the nine accused in the Malegaon blast case, including Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.The ATS is investigating transfer of funds from the bank account of Lt. Col. Purohit, the first serving army officer to be arrested in the case, to Rahirkar and others for execution of the alleged conspiracy.
A former Colonel is now being probed by the ATS for alleged links with the Malegaon blast prime accused Lt Col S P Purohit and may have extended help in training cadres of Abhinav Bharat, a little-known right wing group suspected to be involved in the conspiracy.
The Malegaon blasts case has opened the proverbial can of worms. After the alleged involvement of right wing Hindu fundamentalists, the arrest of Lieutenant Colonel Srikant Purohit on Wednesday has managed to rattle the top brass of the government and the Indian Army.Several residents of this textile town in Maharashtra are now demanding another investigation in the 2006 serial blasts, which claimed 37 lives.
The Bombay high court had on April 25 granted bail to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, accused of plotting the September 2008 Malegaon blast, but rejected the bail plea of co-accused Purohit saying the charges against him were of grave nature.
He said the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of three parties -- Sena-UBT, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party -- was formed to protect democracy and it was necessary to work unitedly for it.
A team of Anti-Terrorist Squad of the Mumbai police arrived in Bhopal on Saturday in connection with the probe in the Malegaon blasts amidst reports that the role of two former army officers was being investigated.
Three persons from Indore were picked up by the Maharashtra police and are being interrogated in Mumbai in connection with the Malegaon bomb blasts amid suspicions that Hindu extremist groups could be involved in the recent explosions in Malegaon and Modasa in Gujarat.
Charges against eight Muslim youths accused in the 2006 Malegaon bomb blasts case were on Monday dropped by a special court in Mumbai due to lack of evidence against them.