'Was asked to arrest Mohan Bhagwat, instruction came directly from top', Ex-ATS officer on Malegaon case

New Delhi, Aug 1 (IANS) In a startling revelation, a former officer of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), who was part of the team that probed the 2008 Malegaon blast on Friday claimed that he was directed to arrest Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Chief Mohan Bhagwat in connection with the case, but he refused and was subsequently falsely implicated and apprehended.

Mehboob Mujawar, the ex-ATS officer, said, “I was given the responsibility to track down absconding accused Sandip Dange and Ramji Kalsangra. But along with that, I was also told to arrest Mohan Bhagwat. This instruction came directly from senior officials, including Parambir Singh.”

Mujawar said he was officially equipped for the task, with a team of 10 personnel, sufficient funding, and even a service revolver was provided by the ATS.

However, Mujawar said he refused to comply with the directive to arrest Bhagwat because there was no credible evidence to justify such an action.

"This is when the term ‘bhagwa aatankwad’ (saffron terror) began gaining traction. I was handed the responsibility of arresting Mohan Bhagwat, but I could not bring myself to fabricate such a lie. I stayed in Nagpur as instructed, but I didn’t carry out the arrest because it would have been morally and legally wrong. Had I done so, who knows what would have happened to me?” he said.

According to Mujawar, his refusal led to retaliation from within the system.

“Because I didn’t arrest Bhagwat, false charges were brought against me. I was arrested, sent to jail, and a charge sheet was filed. I later submitted all the documents in court proving that there was no evidence against the RSS chief. Eventually, I was acquitted. It has now been over ten years. These documents were also submitted to the NIA and presented during the final verdict,” he told IANS.

Mujawar’s statement comes a day after a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court acquitted all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, including former BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit.

The court dropped all charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Arms Act, and Indian Penal Code (IPC), citing a lack of sufficient evidence.

The blast occurred on September 29, 2008, near Bhikku Chowk mosque in Malegaon, Nashik district, when a bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded during the holy month of Ramzan and just days before Navratri. Six people were killed and over 100 were injured in the communally sensitive region.

After nearly 17 years of legal proceedings, the verdict was delivered on Thursday in a packed courtroom with all the accused present, as directed by the court. The court also ordered compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the families of the deceased and Rs 50,000 for each injured victim.

The trial, which spanned more than a decade, involved over one lakh pages of documentation. Hearings concluded in April this year, and the court reserved its judgment on April 19.

The prosecution examined 323 witnesses during the trial, but 34 of them turned hostile -- severely undermining the case. The investigation was originally led by the Maharashtra ATS but was handed over to the NIA in 2011.

--IANS

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