Saturday, January 12, 2013

Malegaon blasts: Lens on Hindu, Muslim radicals



Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai:
TheNationalInvestigation Agency (NIA), probing the 2006 Malegaon serial blast cases, may take Abrar Ahmed to Indore and other places to verify if he met some Hindu sadhus and other right wing radicalleaders.
Abrar was earlier arrested for the blasts and has also been named asoneof thebomb planters. He was made approver in the explosion cases. In 2009, he filed an affidavit before the special MCOCA court stating his statement was taken under duress. In his affidavit, Ahmed also stated that he met a few men wholookedlikesadhus.
In 2010, right wing leader, SwamiAseemanand,confessed that his boys had engineered the blasts. After this, the nine Muslim accused including Ahmed were given bail. The NIA now wants to confirm whether some Muslims were hired by the rightwing peoplefor recee.


The Times of India, January 12, 2013

Monday, January 7, 2013

Hope for 9 accused in 2006 Malegaon blasts



Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai
:The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is soon likely to seek dismissal of charges against the nine men arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in connection with the 2006 Malegaon serial blasts, an officer said.

Handed the blast case in January 2011, the NIA has recently arrested four individuals—Dhan Singh, Lokesh Sharma, Manohar Singh and Rajendra Chaudhary—all alleged to be members of ultraright-wing Hindu groups. According to sources in the agency, Chaudhary, Dhan Singh, Manohar Singh and one Ramji Kalsangra planted the four explosives in Malegaon on September 8, 2006, that killed 37 people and injured another 297.

The recent discoveries of the NIA deflate the earlier claims of the ATS. “There cannot be two sets of accused for one crime,” said an NIA officer. “We have arrested four persons and are now probing a larger conspiracy.” Another NIA officer hinted that the agency is preparing to ask court to dismiss the charges (under section 169 of CrPC) made by the ATS against nine people.

In 2006, the ATS had arrested nine men of the minority community, claiming they were members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and had a hand in the Malegaon serial blasts. It filed a chargesheet in the case in 54 days, though it could take 180 days. According to it, SIMI members engineered and executed the bombings, with the help of a Pakistani national named Muzammil, to spark “communal riots” in the state.

As it happened, the Maharashtra government transferred the case to the CBI, but the central agency’s first supplementary chargesheet too made assertions similar to the state ATS’. In January 2011, when another CBI team began probing the blasts, it discovered the alleged involvement of radical Hindu nationalist groups. In April 2011, the Union home ministry eventually transferred the case to the NIA.

According to NIA sources, the decision to bomb Malegaon in 2006 was taken by senior functionaries in the group, including former RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi, Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange. Thereafter, Kalsangra and Sharma were tasked with executing the bombings. It was these two who arranged for Chaudhary, Dhan Singh and Manohar Singh.

The team first recced Malegaon to identify targets. On September 8, Sharma drove the team members to Malegaon, where Kalsangra gave them explosives and clothes to make them resemble religious Muslims. Kalsangra accompanied Dhan Singh, Manohar Singh and Chaudhary to place the bombs on bicycles and at other spots near Hamidia mosque at Bada Kabristan, where many people had gathered on the occasion of Shab-e-Baraat. Once the bombs were planted, Sharma drove the team back to Indore. CHANGE IN

COURSECARNAGE
| On Sept 8, 2006, four explosives went off in Malegaon, killing 37 and injuring 297. The bombs contained RDX, ammonium nitrate, nitrite and oil fuel

ACCUSED

Noor-ul-Huda (24)
| Shabbir Masiullah (34) | Raees Rajjab Ali (35) | Dr Salman Farsi (40) | Dr Farogh Makhdoomi (40) | Mohd Ali Shaikh* (45) | Asif Bashir Khan* (40) | Zahid Majeed (35) | Abrar Ahmed Saeed (35)

* Facing trial in 11/7 train blasts case too

SEVERAL PROBES
Malegaon police started an investigation, but a week later the case was transferred to the ATS

Nine Muslim youths, seven from Malegaon, were arrested and accused of being SIMI
members

Taking 54 days, ATS filed a 4,500-page chargesheet on Dec 21, 2006. Case was handed to the CBI

In Jan 2011, another CBI team sought permission to investigate
Case was transferred to the NIA in Jan 2011

MCOCA court granted bail to the nine accused men in Nov 2011

TURNING POINT An accused in the Mecca Masjid blast case, Swami Aseemanand, confessed in Dec 2010 that his accomplices executed the 2006 and 2008 Malegaon blasts. This upended the CBI probe until then and made it focus on ultra-right-wing Hindu groups. The Centre transferred the case to NIA

ATS CLAIMS IN 2006

The RDX for the bombs came from Pakistan and a Pakistani national, Muzammil, assembled them in Malegaon

A bomb each was planted by Huda, Raees Ali and Abrar

Majeed, an imam, travelled from Yavatmal, planted a bomb, and left for his hometown the same day. (About 250 Yavatmal residents filed affidavits, saying Majeed was in their town)

Masiullah, a battery shop owner, was part of the conspiracy. (At the time of the blasts, he was in police custody in another case)

NIA CLAIMS IN 2012

The RDX was procured in India. The explosives were allegedly planted by Dhan Singh, Rajender Chaudhary, Ramji Kalsangra and Manohar Singh. Dhan Singh was earlier arrested for being a bomb planter in the Samjhauta and Malegaon 2008 attacks

Another Samjhauta blast accused, Lokesh Sharma, provided logistical support

The blasts were ‘green-lighted’ by former RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi, Kalsangra, Sandeep Dange and others. The execution was entrusted to Kalsangra and Sharma

Chaudhary, Dhan Singh and Manohar Singh recced Malegaon to identify the targets


The Times of India, January 7, 2013

Sunday, January 6, 2013

One more arrested for 2006 Malegaon serial blasts





Mateen Hafeez TNN

Mumbai:
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday arrested right wing group member, Lokesh Sharma, for the 2006 Malegaon serial bombings.

Sharma, suspected to have done a recce of Malegaon along with accomplices Dhan Singh, Manohar Singh and Rajendra Chaudhary, was taken into custody from a jail. He was first arrested in 2011 for the 2008 Malegaon bomb blasts. So far, the NIA has arrested Dhan Singh, Manohar,
Rajendra and Sharma for the September 8, 2006 serial blasts that killed 37 in Malegaon.

Earlier, the Maharashtra ATS led by the then joint commissioner K P Raghuvanshi and DIG S K Jaiswal, had arrested nine Muslim youth stating that they had engineered the blasts. However the Malegaon residents said the ATS story was concocted and Muslim boys were not involved. Later the case was handed over to NIA, which arrested saffron brigade members.

The NIA is now looking for accused Sandeep Dange, Ramji Kalsangra and four others in the 2006 Malegaon blast cases.




The Times of India, January, 6, 2012