Opposition slams NIA for failing to provide the evidence in Malegaon bomb blast case
Former Congress Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan said the 2008 bomb blast near a mosque in Malegaon had killed six people and injured over 100, and that even the NIA special court acknowledged this.
'The question remains - why has no one been held guilty or convicted for this crime? Who killed these people in the blast? This shows that the investigating agencies, under the BJP-led government, deliberately withheld evidence that could have established the crime against the accused,' Chavan alleged.
He alleged that since the NIA works under Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the special court's order acquitting all seven accused in the case was expected.
'No one is surprised with this order of the court. No one was held guilty in the Mumbai train bomb blast case as well. The High Court had then acquitted all accused because the probe agencies could not find any evidence. And the same, happened in Malegaon bomb blast as well.
"As long as these probe agencies are under Amit Shah, such kind of order will be delivered where no one will be guilty. Now, what are you going to do to the victims whose family members were killed in these blasts,' asked Chavan.
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Hindustan Times
11 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Retired police officer claims he was ordered to arrest RSS chief
MUMBAI: A day after a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court acquitted former BJP MP Pragya Thakur, Army officer Lt Col Prakash Purohit and five others in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, a retired police officer stirred fresh controversy on Friday, claiming former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh and his seniors in the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad had asked him to arrest Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat while investigation was underway, to bolster the 'saffron terror' narrative. Mehboob Mujawar Singh, who was then an additional commissioner of police with the Maharashtra ATS, denied the charge and said the officer, Mehboob Mujawar, was never a part of the ATS. On Friday, speaking on the phone from his residence in Solapur, Mujawar told HT that while he was working with the ATS, Singh and his seniors had directed him to arrest the RSS chief and the two wanted accused in the case, Ramchandra Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange, who allegedly planted the bomb in Malegaon that killed six people. Both Kalsangra and Dange have been at large since 2008. 'Singh and his seniors had asked me to arrest Bhagwat to create a 'saffron terror' narrative. But I did not obey the order as it was issued orally, and there was no written communication,' he said. Param Bir Singh, however, denied the allegation. 'He (Mujawar) is a disgraced policeman who is being opportunistic,' he told HT. 'Names of RSS leaders never came up in our investigation. The NIA had also examined him (Mujawar) but his claims turned out to be totally bogus.' Singh also claimed that Mujawar was never part of the ATS. 'Mr Hemant Karkare (then ATS chief) got him involved on the recommendation of then Solapur superintendent of police to help with detection (of the bomb blast case). But he never participated in the investigation and indulged in some criminal activities. I remember that some offence was registered against him in Solapur and the commissioner of police, Solapur had sacked him.' Singh added that Karkare was leading the investigation of the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, and he was additional CP, ATS, only for Mumbai. 'This investigation was not under my supervision ever. I was only assisting Mr Karkare whenever asked by him,' he said. The NIA court, in its order on Thursday, stated that Mujawar was very much 'a member of ATS team' and he had investigated the Malegaon blast case 'as per the directions of his superior officer'. Mujawar conceded that he was booked under the Arms Act and accused of having disproportionate assets, but said he was implicated in those cases after he refused to obey Singh's instructions. 'Apart from arresting Bhagwat, I was asked to show that Ramchandra Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange, who were both killed by ATS officers and shown among the victims of the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai, were still alive,' he said. In his statement before the NIA, which took over the investigation into the Malegaon blast in 2011, Mujawar had sought a probe into the post-mortem reports of 26/11 victims and suggested that DNA samples from the two dead bodies be obtained for verification. Both Kalsangra and Dange, based in Indore, were aides of former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur. Ramchandra used to work with his brother Shivnarayan as an electronic contractor while Dange was associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and had completed a course in information technology. According to the ATS, they had planted the bomb on the motorcycle parked outside the mosque in Malegaon, which killed six people and injured 95 others. Even as the NIA has got red corner notices issued against the duo, and declared a ₹10 lakh reward for anyone who provided information relating to them, their family members have lost hopes of seeing them again. 'My elder brother Ramchandra (Ramji) Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange were detained by Maharashtra ATS on October 10, 2008. We have no information about them,' said Ramji's brother Shivnarayan Kalsangra, who too was arrested in the Malegaon bomb blast case, but was later discharged. He now works as a real estate agent in Indore. 'It was a completely fabricated case. I was arrested and was behind bars for 34 months. They planted timers at our home claiming that we had supplied timers for the bomb,' said Shivnarayan, who was arrested by ATS along with Pragya Singh Thakur. He got bail in 2011 from the Bombay high court due to lack of sufficient evidence and was discharged by the special NIA court in 2017.
The Print
11 minutes ago
- The Print
Malegaon blast probe politics will simmer till Maharashtra polls
A trial court in Mumbai gave its judgment on the case Thursday, acquitting all seven accused, including former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Pragya Singh Thakur, saying there was strong suspicion, but not enough evidence to convict them. And, the most unfortunate part is that nobody seems to be interested in finding out, least of all the government. An explosive went off during the holy month of Ramadan in Maharashtra's Malegaon in 2008. Six people died. Almost a hundred others were injured. It's been 17 years, but in the eyes of the judiciary, there are still no answers as to who was responsible for the attack. The court ordered compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the families of those who died in the attack, and Rs 50,000 for the families of those injured. But it is too little, too late. The Malegaon blast case has, after all, been a victim of politics, and justice or closure has been the biggest casualty. For this reason, the Malegaon blast verdict is ThePrint's 'Newsmaker of the Week.' 'Saffron terror' politics The Malegaon case has been in the public discourse for 17 years, more for the politics surrounding it than for any significant details regarding the investigation process. The probe in the immediate aftermath of the blasts, under the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) and its former chief Hemant Karkare, had led to the arrests of a bunch of Hindutva activists, including Pragya Singh Thakur, as well as Lt Colonel Prasad Purohit, an Army officer. The accused were said to be linked to a Hindu fundamentalist group, Abhinav Bharat. India had seen a fair number of terror attacks across the country in 2008, raising questions on the efficiency of the home ministry under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. The initial revelations in the Malegaon probe gave a political opportunity to the Congress to turn the narrative. The party raised red flags on terrorism allegedly sponsored by Hindutva organisations, with some senior leaders such as P Chidambaram, Digvijaya Singh, and Sushilkumar Shinde using the word 'saffron terror'. They blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) for allegedly encouraging such fringe Hindutva groups. These strong statements had at the time sparked a debate on how the term 'saffron terror' defames the entire Hindu religion and how terror should not be seen through the lens of any religious colour. The BJP and RSS, meanwhile, slammed the Congress for allegedly trying to appease the minorities. Karkare was killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. His death too became politically controversial as the Union Minority Affairs Minister AR Antulay, a Congressman from Maharashtra, suggested that there could be a larger controversy behind the IPS officer's death. Thursday's verdict came as vindication for the BJP's political narrative, with party leaders blaming the Congress for allegedly casting Hindus in a bad light, asking for an apology. It was ironic. The government's law enforcement agency had lost a case. It had failed to show sufficient evidence to get a conviction, despite having 17 years, over ten of which were under a BJP-led government at the Centre. And yet, those in power were celebrating. Also read: Fauja Singh's death shows Indian roads remain a national emergency—474 lives lost every day Opposition busy trying to get script right After the verdict, several Congress leaders asked if Pragya Singh Thakur and others are now acquitted, then who was behind the blast? However, the question was blunted by their more emphatic attempts at distancing the Congress from the term 'saffron terror'. Talking about 'saffron terror' in a Hindu-majority democracy had hurt the Congress even back then. In today's scenario, where the BJP has been working with every small spiritual and religious outfit on the ground to consolidate the Hindutva voter base, the consequences could be even worse. So, one after the other, leaders of the Congress tried to make all the right noises, loudly speaking about how they had never coined the term 'saffron terror,' how terror has no religion, and how Congress condemns all acts of terror. The question that should have been the loudest of all—who committed the crime—came out barely as a whimper. The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) questioned the failure of the government's law enforcement agencies with two back-to-back acquittals in terror cases—first the 2006 Mumbai train blasts and now the 2008 Malegaon blast. However, it stopped short of asking or even suggesting that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) should appeal against the trial court's decision in a higher court. After all, back in 2008, when the Shiv Sena was still undivided under Bal Thackeray's leadership and was a BJP ally, it had openly supported the Malegaon blast accused. On one occasion, party workers had even showered flower petals over the accused outside a Nashik courtroom. Last month, after the Bombay High Court tore into the Maharashtra ATS over the 2006 Mumbai train blasts probe and acquitted all 12 accused, all of whom were Muslims, the Maharashtra government promptly appealed in the Supreme Court. Now that an NIA trial court has done the same in the Malegaon blast case, neither the government nor the agency has shown any urgency in appealing to a higher court. The NIA has said it will decide whether to appeal after studying the order. The political pandemonium will continue as Maharashtra gears up for urban and rural local body polls sometime next year. For the victims and their families, any closure still seems to be a long way off. (Edited by Ratan Priya)
Hans India
11 minutes ago
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Media facing credibility crisis, rues CM Revanth
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