Malegaon probe: ATS raids ashram of prominent Swami
FINER DETAILS: ATS is trying to ascertain if the ashram or the swami had any connection with the blasts.
New Delhi: The Maharashtra anti-terror squad (ATS) has raided the ashram of prominent Swami Asimananda in the Dangs district of Gujarat.
ATS sources say Swami Asimananda was using his driver Sunil Dahwad's sim card and was in constant touch with prime suspect sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.
ATS is trying to ascertain if the ashram or the swami had any connection with the blasts.
The swami's ashram is near Subir village in the Dangs district, about 34 km from the district headquarters.
Asimananda has been very active in the Sangh Parivaar's re-conversion drives in the tribal-dominated belt.
Investigations by the ATS has also put more army officers in the probe radar.
After the arrest of the Lt Col Purohit, two more serving Colonels and a retired Lieutenant General are on the Maharashtra ATS' radar.
The blast in Nanded had taken place on April 6, 2006 at the residence of a retired irrigation department engineer and Rashtriya Swamsewak Sangh activist Lakshman Rajkondawar.
Rajkondawar's son Naresh Lakshman Rajkondwar and Himanshu Venkatesh Panse were killed in the blast while four others - Yogesh Ravindra Deshpande Vidholkar, Maroti Kishore Wagh, Gururaj Jayaram Tuptewar and Rahul Manoharao Pande - were seriously injured.
Pande managed to flee from the scene of the explosion, but was arrested later
