NIA takes over probe in three blast cases

New Delhi, Apr 7 (PTI) Launching its probe into
suspected role of right-wing groups in terror acts in India, a
Central probe agency has taken over investigation of three
blast cases -- Mecca Masjid, Ajmer Sharif and Malegaon -- in
which the cadres of Abhinav Bharat, a right-wing group, are
alleged to be involved.
The cases were registered by the National
Investigation Agency after the CBI, India's premier
investigation agency, and western Indian state Rajasthan
Government gave their consent to the Union Home Ministry for
handing over the probe.
NIA officials said the three cases -- Mecca Masjid,
Ajmer Sharif and Malegaon 2006 -- have been registered and
others including Malegaon 2008 blast case, which actually
brought the alleged role of Abhinav Bharat on the forefront,
would be registered later.
However, central Indian state Madhya Pradesh
Government has put a spanner in the efforts of the Home
Ministry to have a combined investigation of all cases related
to Hindu terror groups by refusing to hand over the murder
case of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist Sunil
Joshi, an accused in Samjhauta blast case, to it.
The Centre had asked the Madhya Pradesh Government to
handover the probe of Joshi murder case to the NIA to which
the state government said that the investigations into the
case had been completed and a charge sheet filed in the court.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had told reporters
earlier here after presenting his monthly report that "..Sunil
Joshi is not a case to be transferred. That is a little more
complicated...they (NIA) have to apply in the court under
different sections of the NIA Act. They will apply to the
court."
The Home Ministry issued notification in the three
cases, where right-wing terror groups' alleged involvement has
surfaced, to be investigated by the NIA, which is already
probing the blast in Samjhauta Express -- rail link between
India and Pakistan -- in which more than 65 people were
killed.
A chargesheet has been filed in the Malegaon 2006 case
by the ATS of Mumbai Police in 2006 itself naming nine accused
and had pinned the blame on Lashker-e-Taiba and banned SIMI.
However, the confession of right-wing activist Swami
Aseemanand before a magistrate claiming that the blast in the
power loom township of Maharashtra was a handiwork of Hindu
groups left the ATS red faced.
Following this, the CBI, which had remained silent on
the Malegaon probe for four years, had also formed a fresh
team to re-investigate the case.
There has been no headway in Mecca Masjid case while
the Rajasthan ATS had carried out pain-staking investigations
in Ajmer blast case and has arrested four people including
Aseemanand.

On Madhya Pradesh's reluctance to hand over the Sunil
Joshi probe to the Centre, the Home Ministry has already sent
a proposal to the Law Ministry seeking its legal opinion in
the wake of absence of a nod from the Bhartiya Janta Party
(BJP) government in the state, official sources said.
Madhya Pradesh government has filed a charge sheet
against certain persons, including Sadhvi Praghya Thakur, an
accused in the Malegaon 2008 case, in connection with the
murder of Joshi, an accused in Samjhauta Express blast case
and three other cases.
The NIA Act empowers the Centre to unilaterally hand
over any terror case to the agency and does not require the
state government's consent. However, the Madhya Pradesh
government contends that there was no terror angle in the
murder of Joshi.
Joshi was shot dead at Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, in
December 2007. Samjhauta blast accused Swami Aseemanand, who
is currently in jail, had in his confessional statement named
Joshi as one of the key conspirators in the right-wing
extremist network.
NIA is already probing the February 2007 Samjhauta
Express blast and September 2008 Modasa blast cases.