In a fresh development in the 2006 Malegaon blast probe, a special court on Thursday granted permission to the Central Bureau of Investigation for reinvestigating the case in wake of "confession" statements made by Swami Aseemanand linking Hindu groups to terror acts.
Indian Army officer Lt Col Prasad Purohit, arrested for his alleged involvement in Malegaon blast, has moved the principal bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal in New Delhi to quash the court of inquiry ordered by the Army against him for violation of the Army Act and Rules. In his application, Purohit, who is currently lodged in Mumbai's Arthur Road jail, has charged the Army with denying him his right to remain present throughout the proceedings of the court of inquiry.
The CBI says Kalsangra, an Abhinav Bharat activist, was introduced to Gupta by Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Sunil Joshi. Kalsangra's role becomes crucial since all the accused who are in custody have told their interrogators that he was the man who planted the bomb at Malegaon
The Maharashtra Anti-terror Squad made a very important arrest in the Malegaon blast case late Monday night. Praveen Muthalik, who is said to be one of the executors of the blast was arrested and later remanded in police custody till February 14. He had been absconding for nearly two years.
Police have so far arrested two persons connected with the blasts.
The Centre has rushed over 3,000 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force and Rapid Action Forces besides over 500 personnel of Special Reserve Police to deal with the situation, which was 'tense but under control.'
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 recent revelations made in the Army Court of Inquiry favouring Lt Colonel S P Purohit have put the National Investigating agency in a spot of bother with regard to its investigation into the involvement of right-wing terror groups in the Malegaon blasts case.
Prime accused in the Malegaon blast case Pragnya Singh Thakur was on Friday shifted to the Nashik civil hospital from the central jail for medical checkup, hospital sources said.
This is the second goof-up in a week by a central probe agency last week, the Central Bureau of Investigation had failed to file a chargesheet in the Adarsh society scam within the recommended period, enabling the seven accused to get bail
Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil on Thursday said the police was in possession of an audio tape of a conversation of a Malegaon bomb blast accused making derogatory references to Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha chief Mohan Bhagwat.
Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and People's Democratic Party leader Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has demanded that the Centre investigate the role of Lieutenant General (Retired) S K Sinha in the Malegaon blast as during the latter's tenure as the state's governor, religious leader Dayanand Pandey used to visit Kashmir regularly and was treated like a state guest.Sources close to Lt Gen Sinha rejected Mufti's charges as outrageous.
The Bombay high court on Friday stayed the granting of custody of three key accused in the September 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case to the National Investigation Agency.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday extended its order restraining the National Investigation Agency from interrogating 2008 Malegaon blast accused Lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi till further direction.
The court transferred the custody of Samir Kulkarni, an accused in the case and one of the co-founders of right-wing group Abhinav Bharat, to the Madhya Pradesh police.
Rebutting senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani's charge, Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad said on Thursday there was no political pressure on it in handling the Malegaon blast probe nor was there any substance in the charge that accused Purohit was tortured in custody.
Designated Judge Y B Shinde, presiding over the special court, said none of the accused had more than one chargesheet filed against him or her for invoking provisions of MCOCA.
The bench refused Purohit's request for staying the proceedings in the trial court, noting that in the past, both the Supreme Court and the Bombay HC had passed orders directing the trial court to expedite the hearing in the case.
Sadhavi Pragya Thakur, the prime accused in 2008 Malegaon bomb blasts, on Wednesday sought bail in the Bombay high court on the ground that she was sick and had spent more than five years behind the bars but the prosecution opposed the relief to her saying there was evidence against her.
The National Investigation Agency on Saturday opposed the bail plea of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a key accused in the Malegaon blast case, in the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court. The agency said that she aided and abetted the other accused with the full knowledge of the terror strike and had offered all support to them. On November 18, Thakur had filed a bail application in the special MCOCA court for the third time.
A special court on Thursday said the application of provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act in the Malegaon blast case by the Maharashtra police was valid.After perusing the chargesheet, special MCOCA judge Y D Shinde said prima facie there was evidence to invoke MCOCA in the case.The over 4,000-page chargesheet had been filed by the ATS against 14 accused in the case charging them under MCOCA.
Himani Savarkar, President of right-wing group Abhinav Bharat and a kin of freedom fighter Veer Savarkar, was aware of the conspiracy hatched to carry out "activities" in Muslim-dominated Malegaon to avenge "atrocities" against Hindus but she kept mum, police sources said. She has admitted this in a statement given to Pune unit of Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, which probed the September 29 blast in the communally-sensitive power loom town, the sources said.
Modi, who was in Delhi to campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the assembly election, went to the RSS office before kick-starting his road show and public meetings, sources said. Though RSS chief R Sudarshan was not part of the meeting, Modi held long discussions with other senior functionaries and discussed the arrest of the sadhvi and how to handle the issue.
Following the bail of the accused in the 2006 blasts case, Malegaon has become a political hub. There was much debate following the release, and now the general feeling among the people is not only full justice to the innocents, but a stringent conviction to the real culprits involved in the attack.
A check was being done whether the business houses were aware about the end use of funds. "We have questioned some of them and we are working to ascertain as to how much of money had been handed over to the saffron outfit," a senior probe official said on the condition of anonymity. The names of the business houses were not divulged for security reasons.
Nine accused in the 2006 Malegaon bomb blast case on Saturdaygot bail as National Investigation Agency chose not to oppose their plea for liberty.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Thursday said that he has asked the army to provide Lt Col Prasad Purohit with all the documents he has sought to prove his innocence in the Malegaon blasts case.
The Bombay high court on Friday dismissed petitions filed by Ramesh Upadhyay and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, both accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blasts case, questioning probe by National Investigation Agency and also challenging the constitutional validity of the NIA Act.
Special counsel for ATS Ajay Misar argued before the court that since investigation into the blast was still on, the judicial remand of the accused should be extended.
The National Investigation Agency on Saturday formally arrested key accused in 2007 Samjhauta Express blast case, Lokesh Sharma, in connection with the 2006 Malegaon bomb blasts case.
A Colonel posted in Deolali and a Major may face interrogation in connection with the probe into the Malegaon blasts as concerns over more officers coming under the scanner have rattled the armed forces.
Sameer Kulkarni, an accused in the Malegaon blast case, was on Tuesday remanded to judicial custody till February 16 by a Jabalpur court in an arson case. Kularni was produced in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class, the prosecution said.
The Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad has got 'new material and good information' after interrogating Praveen Mutalik and some more arrests are likely in connection with the 2008 Malegaon blast case, the chief of the squad said on Monday
Six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a town about 200 km from Mumbai in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008.
The apex court said it has imposed certain conditions on Purohit while granting bail.
In a major setback to National Investigation Agency, the Bombay High Court today granted bail to two accused in the September 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, after observing that there was no material to connect the duo to the blast.
Pankaj Phadnis who co-founded Abinav Bharat, says that it is not his fault if the men alleged to be accomplices of arrested Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Thakur had used the name of his organisation.
A Supreme Court judge on Friday recused from hearing a plea against removal of Special Public Prosecutor by NIA in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, saying that he had represented certain accused in the matter.
With the terror trail leading to Hindu right-wing groups in 2006 Malegaon bombings, the Central Bureau of Investigation is now planning to question members of such outfits including those arrested in connection with the blasts in Maharashtra's power-loom city two years later.
Amid demands for a fresh probe into 2006 Malegaon blasts, the Central Bureau of Investigation has hinted that Mumbai Police's elite Anti-Terror Squad had in its rush to solve the case named two of the accused without realising that one of them was languishing in jail while another was 700 kms away from the town at the time of the explosions.
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