Malegaon blasts: murder charges on Sadhvi and 2 others

Nashik/Ahmedabad, Oct 24 (PTI) A young sadhvi suspected
to have links with a Hindu right wing group and two other men
were slapped with murder charges Friday after they were
arrested for their alleged involvement in the Malegaon blasts
in which the police said the deadly RDX was used.

Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur along with Shyamlal Bhawarlal
and Shivnarayan Singh, all hailing from Madhya Pradesh, were
Friday produced before Nashik's Chief Judicial Magistrate K.D.
Boche who remanded them to police custody till November three.

Public Prosecutor Ajay Mishra said the crime committed
by the three accused was a "serious offence" and they were
booked under charges of murder, attempt to murder and
voluntarily causing grievous hurt under I.P.C. Sections 302,
307 and 326 respectively besides offences under Explosives
Act.

The sadhvi, who is based in Indore but who regularly
visited Surat to give lectures, was picked up from the diamond
town in Gujarat by the Anti Terrorist Squad of the Mumbai
police. Shyamlal and Shivnarayan Singh were brought from
Indore in MP for questioning in Mumbai. The arrests were made
in the last one week.

Mishra said the motorcyle used in the Malegaon blasts on
September 29 in which five persons were killed belonged to
the Sadhvi. Besides having links with the B.J.P.'s student
wing A.B.V.P., she is suspected to be associated with the
Indore-based radical Hindu Jagran Manch (H.J.M.) accused of
involvement in the Malegaon blasts as well as in Modasa in
Gujarat in which one person was killed. The right-wing outfit
denied the charge.


Mishra claimed that following the Malegaon blasts the
Sadhvi, who also is believed to be a member of Surat-based
Vande Mataram Sanghatan, had several telephone conversations
with Shivnarayan Singh, all lasting "400 minutes."

Mishra said that forensic reports have shown that the RDX
was used in the Malegaon blasts

Director General of Police (Maharashtra) A.N. Roy said
the three arrests were made for their alleged involvement in
the Malegaon blast in Nashik district in which five persons
were killed.

Pragya's father Chanderpal Thakur said he does not
believe his daughter was involved in the blasts.

"Her nature would not have allowed her to do something
like this. It is a different thing that she may have known
about it but I don't believe that she was involved," he said.

In both the explosions in the powerloom town of Malegaon
and in Modas the bombs were kept on motorcycles.

Surat Police Commissioner R.M.S. Brar said a team from
the Anti-Terrorism Squad (A.T.S.) of the Maharashtra police
had come to Surat about a week ago and had picked up a sadhvi
for questioning.

The detained sadhvi, whose identity was not revealed,
is said to be involved with a right wing group, police said.

Sabarkantha Superintendent of Police R.B. Bhrambhatt
who is investigating the Modasa blast said they have not
received any communication from the Maharashtra A.T.S.
regarding the involvement of right wing Hindu group in Modasa
blast.

Earlier, four persons were detained by police from Indore
and Dewas and later taken to Mumbai for questioning.

Those detained were identified as Shyam Sahu, Dilip
Nahar and Shivnarayan Singh from Indore and Dharmendra Bairagi
from Dewas, police sources from Madhya Pradesh said.

The trio were initially picked up in connection with a
theft of a motorcycle on October 19, they said.

In the Malegaon blast, the motorcycle bomb had been
kept below the closed office of the banned organisation
Students Islamic Movement of India while in the Gujarat case
the vehicle used allegedly had Islamic stickers on it.

Forensic reports conducted at the blast site at
Malegaon said explosives like RDX and ammonium nitrate had
been used in addition to sharpnel. PTI PB
DEP