By Abdul Hameed, TwoCircles.net
Mumbai: Alleging that the Malegaon police were informed in advance about the 2006 Shab-e-Barat blasts the members of Qaumi Majlis-e-Shoora (QMS) and some other dignitaries of Malegaon demanded the suspension of the guilty officers especially the district Superintendent of Police.
In a press conference held in Marathi Patrakar Sangh on April 28 the QMS leaders also claimed that the arrested youths were innocent and, thereby, should be released the soonest.
‘The SP Rajvardhan had prior report about the blasts at Bada Qabrastan, yet he arranged meager security at the spot on the occasion of Shab-e-Barat and the blasts took place at Hameedia Masjid and Bada Qabrastan. Since the role of SP is suspected he should be arrested and a case be registered against him,’ said Maulana Abdul Karim Milli, the local president of QMS.
Meanwhile, QMS reportedly sent a memorandum to the Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on April 27 in which it demanded to ban Abhinav Bharat, the Hindu Right wing organization allegedly involved in the blast that took place in Malegaon on September 29, 2008.
Maulana Milli told media persons that they had given the similar kind of memorandum to the then CM Vilasrao Deshmukh on August 4, 2008 and had demanded that action should be taken against the police officers named by Abrar Ahmad, the approver-turned-hostile in the case, in his affidavit. He said that after the affidavit “our stand has become vindicated.”
The affidavit recently filed by Abrar Ahmad reveals that the SP Rajvardhan was involved in hatching the conspiracy to implicate Muslim youths and for that he had given a handsome bribe to Abrar who witnessed against the rest eight accused in the case.
The contents of the affidavit were not given due coverage by the media especially the Marathi language media. In the conference especially the Marathi media was invited.
Notably, the Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) had arrested nine Muslims youths-Noorul Huda, Shabbir Ahmad, Raees Ahmad, Dr. Salman Farsi, Dr. Farogh Makhdoomi, Shaikh Muhammad Ali, Asif Ali, Muhammad Zahid and Abrar Ahmad- in connection with the Malegaon blasts taking place on Shab-e-Barat at Bada Qabrastan and Mushawarat Chowk on September 8, 2006 just after the Juma prayer in which at least 31 persons were killed and more than 250 were injured. They were arrested under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and charge sheeted in December 2006 for planning and executing the blasts.
Now, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is conducting probe in the case and it is yet to submit its report, reportedly due to a petition pending in the Supreme Court challenging the MCOCA against the accused.