NIA not to oppose bail of Malegaon blast accused

NEW DELHI: With probe pointing to the role of right-wing extremists in the 2006 Malegaon blasts, the National Investigation Agency has decided not to oppose bail petitions of nine accused who were arrested before the role of Hindu radicals came to light.

“NIA will not be opposing bail for the nine accused. With investigations in progress pointing in other directions, NIA feels that it is no longer needed to put them under judicial custody,” home minister P Chidambaram told a news conference here. He, however, added that it was for the courts to take the final decision on whether they should be granted bail or not.

Chidambaram, however, said the charges against the nine accused would not be dropped until any other person involved is found and chargesheeted and the old chargesheet is revised. The home minister’s statement came after NIA told a MCOCA court in Mumbai that it would file an additional chargesheet against the nine accused on Friday. NIA told the court that it would file its say on the bail petition of the nine accused on the same day.

The nine accused are Salman Farsi, Shabir Ahmed, Noorulhuda Doha, Rais Ahmed, Mohammed Ali, Asif Khan, Javed Sheikh, Faroogue Ansari and Abrar Ahmed, all of whom have been in jail for the last four years. All the accused were on Monday produced before Judge YD Shinde, who adjourned the hearing in the case till November 19. In the wake of Swami Aseemanand's confession that pointed to a right-wing group's involvement in the case, the accused had earlier sought bail.

Aseemanand had been arrested for his alleged role in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blasts. “From the confession, it is clear that those responsible for the 2006 Malegaon blasts, are persons far removed from the current accused,” the nine accused said in their bail plea.

The accused further pleaded that they have been in jail for the past four years and “there is no direct evidence of their involvement in the said offence and it was only based on the forcibly-taken confession statement.”

Aseemanand, in his confession recorded before the magistrate a few months ago, had alleged that a right-wing group was responsible for the 2006 blasts in Malegaon, which killed 37 people and injured over 100. The blasts had occurred near Hamidia mosque in the Bada Kabristan area around 1.15 pm on September 8, 2006, after Shab-e-Barat prayers.