[The motorcycle used in 2008 Malegaon blast was traced to Sadvhi Pragya SIngh Thakur and herr consequent arrest. (ummid.com photo)]
Mumbai: Sandeep Dange and Ramji Kalsangra - two key men accused of plotting the 2008 Malegaon blasts along with Colonel Shrikant Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, were killed in the custody of Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS), a suspended police officer claimed according to a report published in media.
The report published by Mumbai Mirror says that after the two men were killed in the ATS custody, their bodies were disposed of with 26/11 terror attack victims.
A blast two days before Eid al Fitr in the month of Ramadan on September 29, 2008 near a crowded ladies market had killed eight people.
The allegation, which can prove to be embarrassing for the Maharashtra ATS, has been made in an affidavit filed by Police Inspector Mehboob Mujawar, who was suspended after two cases – one of disproportionate assets and the other under the Arms Act --were filed against him before the Solapur Magistrate’s Court earlier this month.
Mehboob Mujawar was deputed by the Director General of Police’s office to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) team probing the Malegaon blasts, which left eight people dead and scores injured. He was part of the team till March 2009 and his job was to gather intelligence.
“A terror suspect whom I had caught in connection with the Malegaon blasts from Jalgaon was allowed to go scot free, whereas Kalsangra and Dange were taken into custody the same day as Sadhvi Pragya Thakur. Kalsangra and Dange were taken to Nashik and from there they were taken to Mumbai, where they were killed in custody,” Mujawar said in the affidavit.
The sleuths have so far been claiming that Sandeep Dange and Ramji Kalsangra are absconding.
Mujawar has claimed that Kalsangra and Dange’s bodies were marked as “unidentified victims of 26/11 terror attacks” and disposed of. “When we checked the pictures of those bodies, there were a lot of similarities with the absconding accused,” said Gunde.
Two police officers ACP Rajan Ghule and Police Inspector Ramesh More, who were part of the Malegaon blasts investigation, already stand accused by the Central Bureau of Investigation of abducting a certain Dilip Patidar from Indore.
Patidar was made a witness in the Malgaon blasts case and picked up from his residence in Indore for questioning by an ATS team led by Ghule and More. Patidar was brought to Mumbai, but never reached home. Kalsangra was Patidar’s tenant in Indore, Mumbai Mirror said.