Times of India, Dec 30, 2012
Taking its investigation into the 2006 Malegaon blast forward, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday arrested an RSS member as one of the main planters of the bombs. The agency arrested Manohar Singh from Gurdakhedi village in Madhya Pradesh's Indore district on Saturday. Sources said that Singh, an active member of the RSS, was one of the four men who planted bombs strapped on bicycles near Hamida mosque on the eve of Shab-e-barat on September 8, 2006. The explosion killed 37 people and injured over 100.
According to sources, the other people who accompanied Singh in planting the bombs have been identified as the Samjhauta Express blast accused Rajender Chaudhary, Ramji Kalsangra and Dhan Singh. While Kalsangra is still absconding, Dhan Singh and Chaudhary were arrested around two weeks ago. NIA has already obtained production warrant against Chaudhary for his involvement in the blast.
Sources said, another Samjhauta blast accused Lokesh Sharma, already in NIA custody, was also with the group, but he did not plant the bomb. His role was limited to plotting the entire conspiracy, conducting a reconnaissance before the blast to choose the right spot to place the bombs and then ferrying the planters to Malegaon in a van on the fateful day. All the accused had left Malegaon immediately after planting the bombs.
Sources said that it was while working for his organization that Singh came in contact with other accused. "Singh says he was perturbed at the way some Muslim money lenders were exploiting Hindus who could not pay off their debts. He says they misbehaved with the wives and daughters of these Hindus and he was incensed with this. It was to find a solution to this that he had met other people in the group who told him the problem was not local but national. They thoroughly indoctrinated him and motivated him to carry out terrorist acts against Muslims," said an official privy to investigation details.
With the arrest, NIA has finally put the stamp of Hindu terror on the 2006 Malegaon blast, in which Maharashtra ATS had arrested and charge sheeted nine Muslim men, several of them alleged SIMI members. Following a public outcry over the arrests, the government had transferred the case to CBI, which almost toed the ATS line of investigation in its supplementary charge sheet. It was only in 2010 that CBI arrested Swami Aseemanand, who confessed to a Hindu right-wing role in several blasts including Ajmer Dargah, Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid and Malegaon in 2006. The case was then transferred to NIA.
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