#1. (The Hindu, October 25 2008)
Malegaon blast accused offered legal aid
New Delhi (PTI): A Hindu group on Wednesday offered legal assistance to Malegaon blast case suspects Sadhvi Pragya Singh and her associates, who were arrested by Maharashtra police.
The Sri Ram Sena (SRS), recently in news for allegedly vandalising an M F Hussain exhibition in Delhi and attacking churches in Karnataka, said the three accused are being made "political victims" by the Congress to hide its own inadequacies.
"The Maharashtra government is raking up the Malegaon blast issue to divert attention from the hooliganism of Raj Thackeray while in the Centre the government is looking for an issue to cover up the Batla House encounter incident," SRS General Secretary, Binay Singh told PTI.
Several Christian organisations and former Prime Minister H D Devegowda had demanded a ban on SRS for its alleged involvement in the church attacks in Karnataka.
SRS, which claims no formal association with the RSS, was founded by former RSS functionary Pramod Muttalick about three years ago.
The group's political wing Rashtriya Hindusthan Sena, which opposes the BJP, had fielded candidates from 58 seats in the recent Karnataka assembly elections.
---
#2. ndtv.com
Ex-army officers involved in Malegaon blasts?
NDTV Correspondent
Saturday, October 25, 2008, (Malegaon)
In a latest sensational twist in the investigations into the Malegaon blasts in September, two retired army officers are being questioned on their role in the blasts.
The officers are suspected to have provided training on using explosives. One of the officers is apparently a retired Major.
The arrested officers are believed to be part of an RSS branch of retired armed personnel.
---
#3. ndtv.com
Malegaon blasts probe findings embarrassing RSS
---
#4. The Hindu, October 26, 2008
Uma defends Sadhvi Pragya held for Malegaon blasts
No links with Sangh Parivar, says Venkaiah Naidu
Sagar (MP): Bharatiya Janashakti president Uma Bharti on Saturday defended Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, who has been arrested for her alleged involvement in Malegaon and Modasa blasts.
“Pragya had been a disciple of Maharaj Avdesh Anand and there was no way in which she could be part of any violent activity,” Ms. Bharti claimed here.
‘A conspiracy’
She alleged that the action against Sadhvi Pragya was taken as part of a conspiracy to defame Hindutva forces. She asserted that Pragya would be pronounced innocent with the passage of time.
The Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) recently arrested Sadhvi near Surat in connection with Malegaon and Modasa blasts.
At least five persons were killed in the blast at Malegaon and one person killed in the blast at Modasa in Gujarat on September 29.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu claimed in Bhopal that the three suspects hailing from Madhya Pradesh, who were arrested for their alleged involvement in the Malegaon blasts, had nothing to do with the Sangh Parivar.
“Their association with the Sangh Pariwar was being talked only to give Hindu organisations a bad name,” the senior BJP leader said, adding it was strange that Hindu outfits were being targeted even in cases where investigations had not been completed.
Seeks thorough probe
“If there is proof against anyone, action should be taken but only after a thorough investigation is carried out into the cases,” Mr. Naidu said here.
The three persons arrested are Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, Shivnarayan Gopalsingh Kalsangra and Shyam Sabarlal Sahu. -- PTI
---
#5 Hindustan Times, October 26, 2008
Sadhvi’s BJP connection
by Saeed Khan
Bhopal, October 26, 2008
First Published: 00:57 IST(26/10/2008)
Last Updated: 01:01 IST(26/10/2008)
Though Malegaon terror accused Pragya Singh’s antecedents as an ABVP activist in Ujjain in the mid-1990s were well known, Hindustan Times investigations have accessed irrefutable evidence establishing her links with top BJP leaders.
Pragya, HT found out, continued to hobnob with top BJP leaders, including its national president Rajnath Singh and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh as recently as February. She had now taken sanyas and became Sadhvi Purnachetanand.
The meeting between the sanyasin and the two top-ranking BJP leaders took place at a condolence meeting for MLA Laxman Singh Gaud at the latter’s residence. Indore Mayor Uma Shashi Sharma, and the MLA’s widow, Malini Gaud, were also present on the occasion.
Pragya is reported to have spent several days at Gaud’s residence after the hardline Hindutva leader was killed in an accident at Dewas Bypass Road on February 11.
Even after quitting politics, the sanyasin appears to have had cordial relations with Gaud appearing alongside the legislator in public on several occasions.
According to sources, Juna Akhada head Swami Avdeshanand provided a common link between the two.
“Pragya took diksha from the Swami who also managed the arrangements for the ambitious Koticahnda mahayajna organised by Gaud,” said a local leader.
The documentary proof linking BJP leaders with the Malegaon accused has left Congressmen beaming. But local office-bearers, including the city president Pramod Tandon, too, have shared the dais with the sanyasin at least once.
The occasion was a communal amity meet organised in Indore-II, Gaud’s constituency, in December last year. The programme was organised by the Sadbhavna Manch, reportedly chaired by a local Congress leader.
The city president vehemently denied the charges. “The Congress had nothing to do with the programme,” Tandon told Hindustan Times.
Tandon, however, admitted he had participated in the meet, saying: “As party president he attended many programmes whether they were organised by maulanas or sadhus”.
---
#6 Indian Express, 26 October 2008
2 ex-Army officers picked up for Malegaon, Modasa
by Smita Nair & Manu Pubby
Mumbai | New Delhi, OCTOBER 25 : The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) is questioning at least two retired Army officers for their suspected links with the Hindu activists arrested for last month’s blasts in Malegaon and Modasa. Both the officers are reported to be associated with the Bhonsale Military School in Nagpur. The school has another branch in Nashik.
That school had been flagged off in a letter to the Prime Minister on September 2 by CPM leader Hanna Mollah who claimed that it was giving arms training to Hindu youths and teaching them how to make bombs.
The ATS, which earlier arrested Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur near Surat and two other Hindu activists, Shivnarayansingh Kalsangram and Shyam Bhavarlal Sahu, from Indore, is also looking for Shivnarayansingh’s brother, Ramnarayansingh alias Ramji, ATS Special Counsel Ajay Misar told The Sunday Express.
Sources said Ramji stayed at a lodge in Malegaon on September 29, the day of the blast, and had also visited the textile town a week earlier, apparently for a recce. He is suspected to be the mastermind.
Meanwhile, members of the Nationalist Congress Party’s student wing, the Rashtrawadi Yuva Congress, attacked the local office of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and damaged property in Malegaon’s district headquarters of Nashik. VHP and Shiv Sena activists retaliated by pelting stones at a state-owned bus. Police said five men, including NCP’s student wing state president Ranjan Thackeray, were arrested.
|
