(See Two Reports in Mail Today pasted below)
BAJRANG DAL BOMBERS
Sangh activists blow themselves up planning revenge attacks
by Piyush Srivastava in Lucknow
Mail Today, 26 August 2008
mailtoday.in
IT'S OFFICIAL. The Sangh Parivar members have now joined in plotting terrorist attacks. On Sunday afternoon, a bomb accidentally went off in Kanpur killing a former Kanpur city convener of the Bajrang Dal and his associate while they were assembling a bomb in a private hostel room.
The police suspect that the two were planning retaliatory attacks in the aftermath of the bomb blasts in Ahmedabad and could be part of a larger conspiracy. They were reportedly making six to seven bombs to trigger off a serial blast in the Muslimdominated areas of Ahmedabad.
The hostel room was badly damaged in the explosion. The police stumbled on substantial quantity of bombmaking material from the spot. They recovered three kg of lead oxide, 500 gm of red lead, one kg of ammonium and potassium nitrate, 11 hand grenades, seven timers, over two kg of bomb pins and pellets, seven batteries, 12 bulbs and about 50 m of wires. Two of the timers found at the spot were attached to batteries with wires.
The dead men have been identified as 25- year-old Rajeev Mishra and 31-year-old Bhupendra Singh Chopra. The explosion was so intense that both the legs of Chopra and Mishra were blown off and they died within minutes. Two other youths, who were in the adjoining room, sustained serious injuries when the room's wall collapsed due to the explosion.
Identifying the slain bombers as part of the Sangh Parivar, Kanpur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Ashok Kumar Singh told MAIL TODAY, "I am told Bhupendra Singh Chopra was a Bajrang Dal member. Even earlier, Bajrang Dal activists were found to be indulging in antisocial activities in Kanpur." A resident of Shastri Nagar in the city, Chopra was the convener of the Bajrang Dal in Kanpur city between 1998 and 2000.
Prakash Sharma, the national convener of Bajrang Dal, is from Kanpur and knew the duo pretty well. Talking to MAIL TODAY, Sharma said Chopra and Mishra were members of his organisation. "I don't deny they were active in the Bajrang Dal a few years ago. But, they were inactive these days," he said.
The injured have been identified as Vikas Singh, 21, of Fatehpur and Bupendar, 20, of Chitrakoot. They are students of a Kanpur polytechnic institute. The condition of the two was said to be serious.
Sharma feigned ignorance of the activities Chopra and Mishra were involved in. About the explosives Sharma claimed, "Such things can be bought from the market any day during Dussehra and Diwali. Though both Bhupendra and Rajeev used to meet me, I didn't know what they were planning to do."
Kanpur range inspector general of police S.N. Singh pointed towards the possibility of serial blasts. "It was meant for a larger conspiracy. Most probably these people had planned serial blasts. We are investigating their links."
Another officer said the police had information about more explosives that had been dumped by the two Bajrang Dal members and hoped to recover them soon.
Mithilesh Kumar Pandey, the officer in charge of the bomb disposal squad of Kanpur said he found enough material at the blast site for assembling seven bombs of high intensity. They had used bulb filaments in place of detonators to ignite the explosives. The hand grenades recovered from the spot were improvised and could be opened from both sides on which iron panels were fixed. The scene suggested that the bombmakers were well trained in their job.
The incident took place around 3 pm in the room of a private hostel in Rajiv Nagar colony of Shardanagar area in Kanpur city. The hostel is run by Shiv Saran Mishra, Rajeev's father. A retired employee of Kanpur Electric Supply Company (KESCO), he had reportedly severed his links with his son two years ago and was living in his ancestral village of Nankari on the outskirts of the city. Shiv Saran had rented out six hostel rooms to students of a polytechnic but Rajeev, an executive with a private firm in Lucknow, had forcibly occupied one of the rooms two months ago, apparently against his father's wishes.
Shiv Saran said Bhupendra and his son had attended a Bajrang Dal training camp in Lucknow on June 13, 2001 in which they were taught martial arts and the use of arms and ammunitions.
Police officers said Bhupendra and Rajeev were upset after the Ahmedabad serial blasts and would talk about their plans for visiting Gujarat to take revenge. "Both the men had left their parents' homes. Their relatives knew they were involved in serious criminal activities since 2001," an officer said.
SSP Singh said Rajeev, who was a bachelor, used to visit Kanpur every Sunday and used to spend a few hours in the hostel room with his friends. This Sunday, he arrived at around 2:30 pm. Bhupendra reached there 15 minutes later. The explosion was heard around 3 pm.
Vinay Katiyar, a Rajya Sabha member, national general secretary of the BJP and founder of the Bajrang Dal, said, "I have no connection with the organisation (Bajrang Dal) since 1996. They do not report to me and I do not chalk out their programmes."
piyush.srivastava@mailtoday.in
o o o
'COPS & GOVT IGNORE HINDU TERROR IN NANDED'
by Krishna Kumar in Mumbai
Mail Today, 26 August 2008
mailtoday.in
SINCE 2006, at 1.30 am on April 6, Bajrang Dal cadre celebrate 'Shahid Diwas' in Nanded by bursting crackers. They observe the 'martyrdom' of two colleagues, who died while making bombs meant to be planted outside a mosque in Maharashtra.
Besides the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Bajrang Dal workers, too, have been involved in perpetrating terror, said Feroze Khan Gazi, a functionary of the Movement of Justice and Peace in Nanded. But, he adds, Bajrang Dal workers do not get charged with the blasts and when they do, as in the Nanded case, they get bail.
The Anti-Terrorist Squad in Maharashtra was puzzled when a low-intensity bomb went off in a theatre screening Jodha Akbar in Panvel on February 20 this year. On May 31, a blast took place at the Vishnudas Bhave auditorium in Vashi and on June 4, a bomb exploded at the Gadkari Rangayatan auditorium in Thane. Both auditoriums were screening the controversial Marathi play Amhi Panchpute, which allegedly mocked Hindu gods and goddesses.
It was only after the arrest of two men from the Sanathan Sanstha (an organisation which claims to be working for the uplift of Hindus) that the police realised it was the work of people who wanted to 'market their own brand of Hindu terror'.
In the Nanded incident, cadres of the Bajrang Dal were planning a blast outside an Aurangabad mosque when one of the bombs exploded, killing two men (Naresh Lakshman Rajkondawar and Himanshu Venkatesh Panse) and injuring four others. All six were Bajrang Dal workers who had formed a hit-list of mosques to be targeted.
Shankar Gaikar, state convener of Bajrang Dal, however, claims the men were not part of his organisation. "The police can say anything but they were not our members," he said even though RSS and Bajrang Dal literature was seized from Rajkondwar's house, where the blast took place.
The police initially tried to dilly dally but had to arrest the accused after intense pressure. "We hoped with the CBI probing the case, we could get justice. But the accused are out on bail," said Gazi.
Maharashtra DGP A.N. Roy defended his men, saying "The chargesheet has been filed. What more do you expect us to do?"
Gazi said, "There was another blast in a go-down in Shastri Nagar near Nanded. Two people died in the incident. The police initially told us there was a short circuit but the go-down did not have any electricity connection."
Gazi accused the police of shielding the accused and said the state and Centre let the accused go scot free.
"They only want to portray Islamic terrorism. What about what is happening in Nanded?" he asked.
|
