Panaji: Police here Monday
refused to acknowledge that the Diwali-eve blasts in Goa had any
links with Sadhvi Pragya Singh and Col. Shrikant Purohit, accused in
the September 2008 blast in Malegaon.
Inspector General
of Police (IGP) K.D. Singh also denied media reports that quoted him
as saying that the Goa blast had links to the Sadhvi and Purohit.
"Now is not the
time to say that there is link or no link as the case is being
investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA)... We can't
disclose anything at this time," Singh told reporters here.
Asked about a
national newspaper Monday quoting him as saying that the accused in
the Goa blast case had links with Sadhvi (Pragya) and Colonel (Shrikant)
Purohit, he said: "I did not confirm anything. I was misquoted."
Goa police
spokesperson Atmaram Deshpande, meanwhile, said that the National
Investigation Agency (NIA) had still not arrived in Goa to take
charge of the investigations into the Diwali eve blast allegedly
engineered by members of the Sanatan Sanstha.
"They were
supposed to take charge today (Monday), but they have not arrived
yet," Deshpande said.
The NIA will take
over the probe into the blast case from the special investigation
team (SIT) instituted by the state government to probe the Oct 16
blast.
Two members of the
Sanatan Sanstha had died when the detonator-rigged gelatine sticks
they were carrying exploded accidentally Oct 16.
The SIT has
already arrested four Sanatan Sanstha members in connection with the
blast, three of whom hail from Maharashtra.
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