2006 Malegaon blasts handiwork of Hindu radical groups: NIA clarifies

The NIA stuck to its stand in the Bombay high court and said that right-wing groups were responsible for the Malegaon blasts of 2006, and rejected the claim that the probe was predetermined or false.

The National Investigation Agency has clarified that the 2006 Malegaon blasts were the handiwork of Hindu radical groups. The case has seen many flip-flops and at first a group of Muslim youth were blamed for the attack.

While opposing the bail pleas filed by four persons, the NIA said in the Bombay high court that the allegations that the probe was conducted in a predetermined manner was false. The NIA clarified that Mohammad Ansari who was accused by the Maharashtra ATS of planting the bomb was away at Yavatmal which is 400 kilometres from Malegaon where the blasts took place.

On September 8 2006, three bombs had exploded in Malegaon in which 31 persons were killed. The ATS had arrested nine Muslim youth in connection with this case and accused them of being members of the Students Islamic Movement of India.

The course of the probe changed after it was handed over to the NIA. A special court then discharged the Muslim youth who were accused of carrying out this attack.

OneIndia News