Right-wing organisations are holding a five-day conference at Ramnathi, Goa -- headquarters of the Sanatan Sanstha -- from June 10 to June 14 to draw up a timetable for the "formation of a Hindu nation and protection of Hindutva and Hindu organisations". Sanatan Sanstha had hit headlines in October 2009 for its links with Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, after the death of two people in a scooter bomb blast at Margao on the eve of Diwali.
Another angle which investigating agencies are seriously probing is Joshi's affiliation with the SIMI. Investigating officers say during his stint with the SIMI, Joshi mingled with them all the time. In fact he had become a part of them and this had started to worry his group members.
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.
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.
The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court on Tuesday remanded Ajay Rahirkar, accused in the September 29 Malegaon blast and the treasurer of right wing group Abhinav Bharat, to police custody till December 20. Eight other accused including prime accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur were sent to judicial custody till December 29. The prosecution had sought Rahirkar's custody on the grounds that Rahirkar transferred funds from Abhinav Bharat's treasury.
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.
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.
Nashik-based Bhonsalal Military School (BMS) on Friday said no meeting took place in the institution among retired major Ramesh Shivji Upadhyay, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and a serving lieutanant Colonel, who have been interrogated in connection with the Malegaon blasts.
Dr Ram Puniyani, member of the EKTA, Committee for Communal Amity, Mumbai, speaks about the arrests of Muslim youth in Maharashtra.
The Anti-Terrorist Squad of the Mumbai police suffered a major setback last week, when charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against Sadhvi Pragya Singh, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit and nine other accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, were dropped by the special court's designated Judge Y B Shinde.Dropping MCOCA charges against the prime accused in the Malegaon blast case has definitely made the prosecution's task tougher.
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.
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.
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.
A host of pro-Hindutva outfits, including Abhinav Bharat, organised a meeting in Pune on Sunday to raise money for the accused in the Malegaon blast case.Taking strong exception to the expression 'Hindu terrorism' being used in regard to the suspects booked by the Anti-Terrorism Squad -- Sadhvi Pragya Singh, Lt Col Shrikant Purohit and Dayanand Pandey -- Abhinav Bharat president Himani Savarkar told the gathering that the money collected would be used for the legal battles.
Stating that the Shiv Sena was ready to provide the best lawyers to defend Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, arrested in connection with the Malegaon blast, Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Monday ridiculed Congress Member of Parliament Gurudas Kamat, who has demanded his arrest for backing her. "Whenever Congressmen have feats of Muslim appeasement, they dream of my arrest," Thackeray said in an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana.
While 'Hindu terror acts' are made out to be a relatively new concept, the fact remains that the first signs of Hindu terror came to the fore as way back as 2006, when a bomb went off while bding assembled in a Hindu activist's house in Nanded, Maharashtra
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.
Sadhvi Pragya's statements will be crucial to the Malegaon investigation. Her advocate Ganesh Sovani, however, points out that they have not decided as of yet to challenge CBI's re-investigation of the case.
Congress leader Digvijay Singh, who has kicked up a storm over his remarks on slain top cop Hement Karkare, on Sunday attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party, maintaining that the Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad chief's life was under threat and the opposition lent its support to Hindu radical groups.
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.
Pakistan's demand to hand over Lt Colonel Purohit in connection with the Samjahutha Express blast will turn out to be a damp squib considering the fact that the chargesheet filed by the Mumbai ATS makes no mention of the case.
The Anti Terrorism Squad on Wednesday told the MCOCA court hearing the case into the September 2008 Malegaon blast that it has video recordings of a meeting in which the blast accused were present
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 remarks made about Gandhiji or Nathuram Godse are very bad and very wrong for society," he said.
Police were probing the links of right-wing group Sanatan Saunstha with the blast that took place at 9.30 pm on Friday night when explosives kept in a scooter went off on a busy street in Margao, 30 km from Panaji.
Two persons were critically injured and three vehicles gutted when an explosive hidden in a scooter went off on a busy street in the heart of Margao town, 30 km from Panaji.
Terming the BJP-led Maharashtra government a "total failure", Congress accused Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of giving clean chits to several tainted ministers.
The Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, an 89-year old largest such Islamic body in the country that issued a 'fatwa' signed by 6,000 Muslim clerics in Hyderabad ten days ago against terrorism, on Monday moved the Supreme Court for release of a large number of Muslim youths held in connections with blasts in Malegaon in 2001, 2006 and 2008.
A division bench dismissed an appeal filed by her against a Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court order, refusing bail to her on medical grounds.
Yechury recounted the non-violent traditions of the country citing the Maurya Empire's acceptance of the Buddhist philosophy.
In a short video of the incident, the woman is seen telling police personnel that she threw the slipper because "Sidhu spoke against Modi".
Three accused in the September 29 Malegaon blast on Saturday underwent polygraph tests at the Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory.
'Many BJP MLAs and ministers tell us the police does not listen to them.'
The BJP distanced itself from her statement saying it did not agree with her, as "Mahatma Gandhi's killer cannot be a patriot".
It dropped sitting MP from Guna, Krishnapal Singh Yadav, to field Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia from the seat.
In a judgment that seeks to define the role of the National Investigation Agency, the Bombay high court has ruled that as a matter of general rule the agency cannot be prohibited from carrying out fresh investigations or re-investigations in specific cases.
Pragya Singh Thakur, the sadhvi arrested in connection with Malegaon bomb blasts, will undergo polygraph, brain mapping and narco tests, a government lawyer said on Monday.
Attacking the BJP, Bhartiya Janshakti Party chief Uma Bharti expressed 'shock' that the party and its affiliated organisations were 'disowning' 38-year-old Pragya Singh Thakur, the sadhvi, who is suspected to have links with right-wing Hindu Jagaran Manch.
Even though the NIA claims that more than 90 per cent of cases charge-sheeted have ended in conviction, the figure is likely misleading. To date, very few cases investigated by the NIA have resulted in a completed trial, points out former CBI joint director Navneet Rajan Wasan.
Shashi Tharoor has also been retained as the chairman of the panel on Information Technology.
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