CBI to reinvestigate 2006 Malegaon blast

MUMBAI: In a fresh development in the 2006 Malegaon blast probe, a special court on Thursday granted permission to CBI for reinvestigating the case in wake of “confession” statements made by Swami Aseemanand linking Hindu groups to terror acts.

CBI has moved the application before a MCOCA court here after the statement made by Swami Aseemanand under section 164 of Criminal Procedure Code before a magistrate in which he claimed that Hindu groups had carried out the Malegaon blast in 2006 that left 37 people dead and over 100 injured.

Accepting CBI’s arguments, special MCOCA Judge Yatin D Shinde granted the agency permission under section 173 (8) of Criminal Procedure Code to reinvestigate the case.

“We need to conduct further investigation into the blast following fresh disclosures made by one Aseemanand in his confession,” CBI counsel Ejaz Khan argued before the court.

Assemanand, alias Jatin Chatterjee, had stated in his statement that murdered RSS activist Sunil Joshi and others were responsible for Malegaon 2006 blasts. The anti-terrorism squad of Maharashtra as well as the then team of CBI had stayed away from re-investigating the case despite being handed over the probe by Maharashtra government on December 21, 2006.

Ironically, the ATS had filed a 2,200 page chargesheet in the special court on December 22, 2006. However, the then Maharashtra deputy chief minister R R Patil had announced the transfer of the case to CBI for a fresh probe following pressure from political parties.

The probe was conducted by Subodh Kumar Jaiswal, the then joint commissioner of ATS. He was later shifted to Research and Analysis Wing.

The ATS had stated in the chargesheet that the bombs were assembled by two Pakistanis who stayed in Mumbai and Malegaon for over one-and-half months. One of them was identified as Muzammil.

Four bombs planted in Malegaon, the communally-sensitive powerloom township, had exploded on September 8. The day happened to be Shab-e-Baraat, considered auspicious among Muslims, when they assemble to pay respects to their dead kin.

The police claimed 20 kg RDX was smuggled to Malegaon and around five kg was used to make six bombs. The chargesheet has been filed against Mohammed Zahid Majid, Salman Faisa Abdul Latif Aimi, Faruq Iqbal Ahmed Majdumi, Sheikh Mohammed Alim Alam Shaikh, Asif Khan Basir Khan, Noorul Huda Samshudoha, Shabir Ahmed Masiullah and Rais Ahmed Razaq Mansuri.

Malegaon had seen another terror attack in 2008 allegedly by right wing Hindu groups and Sadhvi Pragya and former Lt Col Srikanth Purohit were arrested in connection with the incident.