Saffron link caught on camera, BJP red in face

PHOTO FINISH: MP CM S S Chouhan (L), Sadhvi Pragya (in saffron) and BJP president Rajnath Singh in this 2006 pic.

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New Delhi: In an embarrassing development for the Bhartiya Janata Party, pictures of a Sadhvi (Hindu woman ascetic) – arrested for her role in the Malegaon blasts – are doing the rounds in Bhopal and Indore.

The photograph shows the Sadhvi Poornachetanand once known as Pragya Singh Thakur - with BJP leader and party president Rajnath Singh and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The photograph was taken at the condolence meeting of state education minister Laxman Gaur in February 2006, the year that she took sanyas (retreating to ascetic way of life).

Before becoming a Sadhvi, Pragya was an office bearer of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the BJP's student wing, and a member of Durga Vahini, the women's wing of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

She is believed to be an acquaintance of Indore Mayor Uma Shashi Sharma and another firebrand sanyasi, BJP rebel Uma Bharti

Pragya's spiritual guru is senior VHP leader Swami Avdheshanangiri.

On Thursday, five people affiliated to the Hindu Jagran Manch – including the Sadhvi - were arrested in Indore and Surat by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad for their alleged involvement in the Malegaon and Modasa bomb blasts

Her links to the motorcycles used in the Malegaon bomb blasts is being probed. The registration and the chassis numbers of the bike were removed with chemicals.

However, investigators have succeeded in retrieving these. Preliminary investigations have revealed that all five suspects played a peripheral role in the blasts of September 29. The Anti-Terrorist Squad of the Mumbai Police on Sunday raided a house used by Pragya in Jabalpur. Police officials are searching for conclusive evidence to prove her alleged involvement in the Malegaon blast.

Sadhvi's father Chandrapal Singh says he is confident that his daughter is not involved in the blast. He also says he won't object if his daughter is punished on being proved guilty.

"If she has committed the crime, then I will not be sad if she is punished," he said.

BJP Vice-President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi defended his party saying Pragya was a sadhvi and could have attended a program any function. "The BJP doesn't say Muslim terrorism or any other terrorism. Terrorism has no religion," he said.

Congress MP Rashid Alvi was unimpressed and demanded that the ABVP be banned.