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.
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.
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 special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Tuesday rejected the bail application of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, the key accused in the 2008 Malegoan blast.
Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Purohit, who was arrested for his role in the Malegaon blast, was produced before a Nashik court on Saturday.The court extended Purohit's police custody till November 18.Public Prosecutor Ajay Misar told the court that Lt Col Purohit had links with the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast and he supplied the RDX used in the blast.
Investigators probing the acts of terror allegedly carried out by right-wing groups at Malegaon, Ajmer and Hyderabad are now looking for one Swami Aseemanand and his accomplice.The police have been looking for Swami Aseemanand since the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in October 2009 in connection with the Malegaon blasts. The ATS had picked up incriminating intercepts of his conversation with the Sadhvi.
A day after seven accused in the Malegaon blasts were released on bail, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha on Thursday demanded similar relief to other right wing accused who have been lodged in jail.
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 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.
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.
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.
Seven accused in the Malegaon blast case, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, were today remanded in judicial custody till December 3 by a MCOCA court.
Three accused in the September 29 Malegaon blast on Saturday underwent polygraph tests at the Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory.
By politicising and communalising the investigation process into terror-incidents like the 2006 Malegaon blasts case, the government will be further vitiating the relationship between the two communities and paving the way for more acts of terrorism in future, feels senior analyst B Raman.
The Bombay High Court on Monday directed the Maharashtra government to explain why the investigations of September 2006 Malegaon blast was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Initial reports of Muthalik's interrogation make it clear that he was the man who helped with the logistics and was one among the three who planted the bombs at Malegaon.
National Investigation Agency on Monday formally arrested Lokesh Sharma, already in judicial custody in connection with the Samjhauta train bombing case, for his alleged role in the 2008 Malegaon blast.
The Armed Forces Tribunal on Wednesday asked the army to reconvene the probe against Malegaon blast accused Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit, holding that the Court of Inquiry against him "suffers from the vice of irregularity".
The witness deposed before the special National Investigation Agency court on Tuesday.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
An armyman, who had served with Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit in Military Intelligence, is likely to be made a prosecution witness in the Malegaon blast case as the Anti Terrorism Squad inquiring into the matter has recorded his statement.
However, the Pune ATS moved an application seeking the army officer's custody in another case registered with them. Purohit was arrested earlier this month in connection with the September 29 Malegaon blast that killed six and injured 80. He is among ten, including sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, arrested for their alleged role in the blast.
The prosecution also sought permission to conduct polygraph, narco-analysis and brain mapping tests on Pandey which was granted by joint civil judge H K Ganatra. Pandey, who was produced before the judge, complained of being physically assaulted by officials of the Anti-Terrorism Squad.
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.
The National Investigation Agency on Tuesday said there was no proof against Lt Col Prasad Purohit in the Samjhauta blast case.
Minutes before he fell to the terrorists' bullets on November 26, Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare had wept before the then Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, narrating the agony of being targeted over handling of the Malegaon blast probe.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is mulling taking Swami Aseemanand into custody in connection with its probe in the 2006 Malegaon blasts case after the agency questioned some of the accused belonging to a right wing outfit arrested for allegedly planting bombs in Malegaon in 2008.
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".
One person was killed and six people injured in an explosion in Modasa town of Gujarat's Sabarkantha district on Monday night.
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 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.
Investigations into right-wing terror network in the country have led sleuths of the national Investigation Agency to suspect that some blasts in Jammu in 2004 were carried out by the group which was involved in Samjhauta train and Malegaon blasts.
After reopening the probe into the Nanded blast of 2006, the Central Bureau of Investigation has recently taken custody of Army's tainted Lieutenant-Colonel, Srikant Purohit, and questioned him at length about his role in the incident.
The voluminous chargesheet filed by the Anti-Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra Police has clearly stated that Rakesh Dattatraya Dhawade, one of the accused in the Malegaon case, had made arrangements and facilitated training to the accused persons in the Nanded bomb blasts in 2006. Six people were killed in the Malegaon explosions while the Nanded blasts claimed the lives of two persons.
It seems like the bicycle has once again become the vehicle of terror. Terrorists have often chosen bicycles to plant bombs in the past, including the 2008 Jaipur blasts, that killed scores of people.
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