2006 CARNAGE: Thirty one people died and 297 were injured in the blasts
Mateen Hafeez TNN
Mumbai: Nine men, arrested for allegedly engineering the 2006 bomb blasts near a mosque in Malegaon, on Monday moved a special Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) court seeking bail. The accused have cited Swami Aseemanand’s confession pointing to the involvement of a right-wing group in the explosions.
Pointing out that they have been languishing in jail for the last over four years, the arrested suspects, in their bail plea, said, “From the confession it is clear that those responsible for the 2006 Malegaon blasts are persons far removed from the current accused.”
“There is no direct evidence of their involvement in the said offence,” the one of the lawyers representing the suspects told TOI from Malegaon. Gulzar Azmi, general secretary of Jamiat-ul-Ulema, a socioreligious NGO fighting for the Malegaon men, said, “We have filed the bail application and are hoping our men will be released soon.”
The special court has directed the investigating agency to file its reply by January 28.
On September 8, 2006, three bombs went off inside a cemetery and a fourth one in central part of Malegaon, killing 31 people and injuring 297. Following the blasts, the anti-terrorism squad (ATS) arrested nine persons—Salman Farsi, Shabir Ahmed, Noorulhuda Doha, Rais Ahmed, Mohammed Ali, Asif Khan, Javed Sheikh, Faroogue Ansari and Abrar Ahmed—saying that the men had executed the blasts with the help of two Pakistanis. On December 21, 2006, the case was transferred to the CBI following a public outcry against the arrests. Aseemanand, arrested on November 23 last year for his alleged role in the 2007 blasts at Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid, in his confession, said, “ Sadhvi Pragay Thakur, Sunil Joshi, Sandeep Dange, Bharat Riteshwar and I gathered in Surat on June 23, 2006. We planned to carry out bomb blasts at Ajmer shrine, Mecca Masjid and in Malegaon and Samjhauta Express. I suggested that we begin by carrying out blasts in Malegaon as it has a large Muslim population.”
Till November 16, 2009, the CBI had neither filed a supplementary charge sheet in the case nor had it produced any evidence against the arrested accused. S S Shaikh, a senior advocate representing the accused, said, “The CBI filed a supplementary charge sheet after the court said that the men could be released on bail.”
Special CBI team will visit the powerloom town next week
Areinvestigating special investigation the 2006 team Malegaon (SIT) of blasts the CBI case , which , will is visit the powerloom town this week in connection with the probe. “The CBI team will visit all the four blast sites and speak to witnesses to collect more information about the accused and their involvement. The CBI team is also expected to meet members of Kul-Jamaati Tanzeem, an NGO comprising all Muslim sects,” said a source. A special court had granted permission to CBI to re-probe the case in wake of Swami Aseemanand’s confession linking Hindu groups to the attacks.
TNN
NCP seeks ban on RSS, Abhinav Bharat
New Delhi: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)— a key UPA ally— on Monday demanded a ban on the RSS and the Hindu extremist group Abhinav Bharat for their alleged involvement in terrorist activities in the country.
The demand was put forward by the NCP general secretary Tariq Anwar during his meeting with the Union home minister P Chidambaram here. He also demanded that Muslims arrested in connection with the 2006 Malegaon blast case should be released immediately.
“They (Muslims) should be released immediately as there is ample proof of Hindu radicals carrying out the Malegaon blasts,” Anwar told reporters after the meeting.
Referring to the confessional statement made by Swami Aseemanand about involvement of Hindu radicals in a number of blasts, Anwar said he also asked the home minister to constitute a task force headed by either a sitting Supreme Court or high court judge to have a re-look into all the blasts that took place since 1994 and conduct a fair inquiry.
Notice to govt on Pragya bro’s plea
The Monday Delhi high sought court replies on from the Union government and the NIA on a petition filed by Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Thakur’s brother Ananth Brahmachari accusing the agency of torturing and illegally detaining him. The high court sought their replies by April 6. “How can you call a person who is not in your jurisdiction for interrogation? ,” the petitioner asked.
The Times of India, January 18, 2011
I remember that you were totally agreed with the investigations of the Malegaon Police and SIT after the blast and projected the innocent muslim youths as terrorists in your reportings.
ReplyDeleteWhat are you feeiling now ?
Agreed. We did report what the police had stated in the charge sheet then.
ReplyDeleteToday, we are reporting the fresh developments and the new facts emerging in the case, too.