Why was casualty low, Pragya had asked: ATS

NASHIK/NEW DELHI: Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, arrested in connection with Malegaon blasts, had a long telephonic conversation with the absconding main accused in the case and asked him why there had been less casualties (5 persons died in the blast) in the incident, the prosecution told a court in Nashik on Monday.

Counsel for Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad told chief judicial magistrate K D Boche, before whom Thakur and two others were produced amid high drama, that during the long conversation between her and prime accused Ramji after the September 29 Malegaon blasts, Ramji told her ���I have done my job. ���Pragya asked Ramji whether police have seized her motorcycle used in Malegaon blasts and why less people had killed in the blasts, said the prosecution.

Ramji told Pragya that ���I did not find proper parking place for the bike���, the prosecution claimed.

Following the claims, the court sent Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and her two alleged accomplices to magisterial custody till November 17. However, the court rejected the prosecution plea for extension of police custody.

The three, including Shyam Bhavarlal Sahu and Shiv Narain Singh Kalsangra, were presented to the chief judicial magistrate���s court by the Anti Terrorism Squad of the Maharashtra police.

Advocate Ganesh Sohoni, appearing on behalf of the Sadhvi, alleged torture by ATS sleuths and told the court she would not speak unless justice was done to her. The Sadhvi had earlier fainted in the court.

Hundreds of Shiv Sena, BJP, Hindu Maha Sabha and Abhinav Bharat activists held demonstrations outside the court in support of the Sadhvi and her associates, claiming they were innocent and were being falsely implicated with a motive to malign Hindutva forces.

The ATS, which drew a blank in the lie detector and brain mapping tests performed on the Sadhvi at a laboratory in Kalina in Mumbai last week, is now likely to conduct a narco test on her in a day or two, sources indicated.

The police meanwhile arrested Ajay Raikar, Rakesh Dhavade and Jagdish Mhatre for alleged involvement in the blast. While Raikar is said to be the funds manager of the right wing Hindu organisation Abhinav Bharat, allegedly involved in the case, the other two are presumably part of an arms cartel.

BJP Wants Proof
In New Delhi, BJP demanded that agencies investigating the 2008 Malegaon blasts make public the evidence against Pragya Singh Thakur. Even as it asked that evidence against Pragya Thakur be made public, the party reiterated that if there was credible evidence then the ���law should take its course.���

Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said, ���the nation is entitled to know immediately as to what evidence is available against Pragya Thakur.���

The BJP feels that given the circumstances of the investigation by the Maharashtra anti-terror squad, ���some very relevant questions��� had arisen. Mr Prasad said that if the questions cannot be answered satisfactorily it is clear that the entire investigation is lacking in fairness, transparency and may suffer the taint of a sponsored investigation���.

The BJP spokesperson has questioned why the ATS has not followed up on Riyaz Bhatkal, an accused in the 2006 Malegaon blasts.