The Hindu : Front Page : “Hindu Rashtra ideology was driving force for Malegaon conspirators”

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“Hindu Rashtra ideology was driving force for Malegaon conspirators”

Rahi Gaikwad

Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad files charge sheet in Malegaon blast case; suspects planned to approach Israel for help

— Photos: Vivek Bendre

Malegaon blast accused (from left): Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit, Sadhvi Pragnya Singh, Ramesh Upadhyay, Rakesh Dhawade and Sameer Kulkarni being taken to court in Mumbai on Tuesday.

Mumbai: The ‘Hindu Rashtra’ ideology was the driving force for the conspirators behind the Malegaon blast of September 29, 2008. The brain behind the blast, Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit, founded the Pune-based Abhinav Bharat in 2007 for this purpose, says the charge sheet filed on Tuesday against 11 accused in the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court.

Abhinav Bharat was to be a “front organisation with the intention of propagating a Hindu Rashtra with their own constitution and aims and objects as Bharat Swarajya, Surajya Suraksha in its preamble.” This and other revelations formed part of the voluminous charge sheet filed by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). The stipulated period of 90 days to file a charge sheet ended on Tuesday.

The charge sheet runs into 4,500 pages and lists 389 witnesses. The MCOCA court will give its order on it on Wednesday.

Before the arguments begin, the court has to take cognisance of the offences under the MCOCA and decide if it can be applied.

The MCOCA has been applied in the Malegaon case on the basis of two charge sheets against Rakesh Dattaram Dhawde for his involvement in the Nanded and Parbhani blasts. Defence has, however, challenged this, contending that these charge sheets came after the Malegaon blast case.

At a press conference held later, ATS chief K.P. Raghuvanshi identified Lt. Col. Purohit, Dhawde, Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Thakur, Ajay Eknath Rahirkar and Sudhakar Dwivedi as the masterminds behind the Malegaon conspiracy.

The other accused are Shiv Narayan Gopal Singh Kalsanghra, Shyam Bhawarlal Sahu, Jagdish Mhatre, Sameer Kulkarni, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Ramesh Upadhyay.

The organisation conducted meetings in various places across the country, Ahmedabad, Ujjain, Bhopal, Kolkata, Jabalpur, Indore, Faridabad and Pune, where Lt. Col. Purohit came into contact with the other suspects. Having a similar ideological bent of mind, they were drawn into the Abhinav Bharat fold. They felt that the future of Hindus in the country was in jeopardy.

Lt. Col. Purohit and Dhawde were the key actors at the conspiracy stage. Sadhvi Pragnya offered logistics support. Her motorcycle was used in the blast and she offered to give two persons for the organisation. Dhawde, an arms connoisseur, who also ran a weapons museum, organised training in 2003.

Lt. Col. Purohit and Dhawde trained Ramji Kalsanghra and Sandeep Dange, the planters of the bomb, said Mr. Raghuvanshi. They are still absconding. The third absconder is Praveen Mutalik, a resident of Karnataka. He was with the bomb makers, Mr. Raghuvanshi said. He said Dwivedi and Dhawde had confessed to their involvement.

The ATS chief said the conspirators made Muslims the target of their terrorist activity. They wanted to bomb Muslim pockets, the 2008 Malegaon blast being the start. The place was chosen for two reasons. First, it was the month of Ramzan and Muslims gathered at mosques to offer prayers. Second, they thought that a bomb blast in 2006 executed by the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) would mislead the investigating agency, said Mr. Raghuvanshi.

In their pursuit of a ‘Hindu Rashtra,’ Lt. Col. Purohit and others planned to approach Israel for help if the need arose. However, Mr. Raghuvanshi said, no effort was made to contact the West Asian country. He said one could gather from some conversations that some suspects were in touch with Maoists in Nepal. However, the ATS investigation found no link of Maoists’ involvement.

The RDX used in the blast was procured by Lt. Col. Purohit at Dwivedi’s behest, said Mr. Raghuvanshi. The armyman procured it during his military posting in Jammu and Kashmir. He stored it in his house there; and in his houses in Pune and Nashik, where he was posted. The task of making the bomb was given to Sudhakar Chaturvedi in Nashik.

On Lt. Col. Purohit’s alleged link in the Samjhauta blast, Mr. Raghuvanshi said it came up only in the statement of one witness. “Our investigation has not revealed a link,” he said.

Charges

The accused have been charged under Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 326 and 324 (causing grievous hurt), 427 (damage up to Rs. 50), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code. Sections 3,4,5 of the Indian Arms Act and 3,4,5,6 of the Explosive Substances Act have been applied.

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