Ex-ATS Officer Claims He Was Directed to Arrest RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat in 2008 Malegaon Blast Case
He further claimed that he was falsely implicated by the Investigating Officer for refusing to comply with his unlawful orders
Claims of directives to Arrest RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat in 2008 Malegaon Blast Case Latest News
A former officer of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), who was part of the team that investigated the 2008 Malegaon blast, has claimed that he was directed to arrest RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in connection with the case.
Mehboob Mujawar, a former ATS officer now retired, has made several additional claims in an interview with India Today TV, following the Maharashtra special court's verdict on the case on Thursday.
Mujawar alleged that the directive to arrest RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat came from Investigating Officer Param Bir Singh, allegedly “aimed to create the narrative of 'saffron terror' in India,” according to the report.
"I was directed by Param Bir Singh, and those above him asked me to arrest these individuals – Ram Kalsangra, Sandip Dange, Dilip Patidar, and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. It was beyond my capacity to arrest someone like Mohan Bhagwat, who holds significant influence in Maharashtra," the officer, Mehboob Mujawar, is quoted as saying in the report.
The 2008 Malegaon blast involved an explosion in the town of Malegaon, Maharashtra, that killed 6 people and injured about 100 others on September 29, 2008. The blast involved an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle near a mosque during the holy month of Ramadan.
On Thursday, the special court in Mumbai acquitted all seven accused, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, in the blast case. While delivering the verdict, the court noted that there was "no reliable and cogent evidence" against them.
In his conversation with India Today, Mehboob Mujawar alleged that the court’s verdict had exposed the "fabricated investigation" conducted by a "fake officer." He further claimed that he was falsely implicated by the Investigating Officer for refusing to comply with his unlawful orders, the report said.
He said, as quoted in the report, that he was asked to file a charge sheet showing dead people as alive and claimed, “When I refused, the then IPS officer, Param Bir Singh, implicated me in a false case... I protested because I did not want to engage in false work, and as a result, fabricated cases were registered against me. I have been acquitted in all of them."
The ATS had initially been tasked with probing the incident that occurred nearly 17 years ago in Malegaon town in northern Maharashtra. ATS had alleged that the blast was carried out by individuals linked to a right-wing extremist group called 'Abhinav Bharat' and claimed that the motorcycle used in the blast belonged to Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, another accused in the case.
The probe was later taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which found major flaws in the ATS investigations and dropped charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), giving a clean chit to some of the accused.
The NIA special court acquitted all the accused, citing the prosecution’s failure to prove that the motorcycle used in the blast belonged to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur or was in her possession. It also noted that evidence concerning the procurement of RDX by Lt. Col. Purohit and the assembly of the bomb was insufficient.
The court acknowledged that a blast did occur but concluded that the prosecution failed to conclusively link the seven accused to the incident or establish the conspiracy beyond a reasonable doubt. The court also observed that "terrorism has no religion" and that a conviction cannot be based on "mere suspicion" or "moral perception."
As per the India Today report, the court has also directed an inquiry into serious allegations against an ATS officer and the submission of allegedly fake medical certificates during the course of the investigation.
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