Mumbai: The Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) is reportedly seeking permission from the Defence Ministry to interrogate a serving Lieutenant Colonel of the Indian Army.
The officer is from Maharashtra and is now posted in Madhya Pradesh. He is believed to be close to Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, who has been arrested by the ATS in connection with September 29 bomb blast in Malegaon in which five people were killed.
It is the first instance where a serving defence personnel is being suspected of links with a terror plot.
Meanwhile, the ATS carried out late night raids at the residence of Mayaram Jaswani in Jabalpur.
Jaswani is the vice president of Abhinav Bharat - the organisation connected to Major (retired) Upadhyay and Samir Kulkarni. Kulkarni is the other person arrested in the Malegaon blast case.
Upadhyay had been allegedly motivating Hindu youths to take up work for Hindu cause.
He was associated with Bhonsala Military School, in Nashik.
Investigation into Malegaon blasts is gathering pace. Two suspects - an armyman and an activist of a right wing Hindu group - have now been remanded to police custody.
A week earlier,
Pragya, Kulkarni and Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay have been remanded to police custody till November 14 by a Nashik court.
“They have been charged under Section 302, 307, 326 read with relevant sections of Indian Explosives Act, read with Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Investigation is on and we have the permission for the narco test,” said Additional Commissioner of Police, Maharashtra ATS, Sukhwinder Singh.
However, Kulkarni and Upadhyay have refused legal assistance.
In fact Upadhyay told magistarte PG Patil, “Whatever the public prosecutor has said is all suspicion, nothing concrete has been found and nothing concrete will be found because I am not involved. I have spoken to her (sadhvi) only once and shared the dais thrice with her. I am not associated with her more than this. My Lord, In their (police) custody my human right of dignity is violated. All the marks are visible on my body for you to see. I request you to please order daily medical checkups to ensure that my human right to dignity should not be violated."
While the court ordered in favour of the prosecution during the court proceedings, the public prosecutors said few high profile arrests are in the offing. Who they are is not clear yet but the involvement of these people is on record.
Police allege that the duo had several meetings with Pragya in Bhopal and Nashik before the blast.
One of the meetings allegedly took place in the campus of Bhonsala military school. Nashik police also claim that Upadhyay could provide leads to the source of RDX that was used in the Malegaon bomb.
The president of Abhinav Bharat, Himani Savarkar, justified the alleged involvement of Kulkarni and Upadhaye by describing it as a natural reaction by the Hindus.
"There is no proof of their involvement but assuming that they did it, it should be seen as a reaction. How long will this continue? Should we sit home with our hands tied?" Savarkar asked.
Meanwhile, there are reports that Pragya has been changing her statements often and trying to mislead the police.
(With inputs from Toral Varia)
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