Mumbai: In a move that is certainly going to bring down the morale of the Maharashtra Police, the Maharashtra government on Thursday, decided to hand over the investigations of the Malegaon blasts to the CBI.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil ordered a CBI probe into the case after there were accusations against the state government that the probe that was being carried was anti-minority.
“We have handed over the investigations of the Nanded and Malegaon blasts to the CBI. We wanted more transparency in the investigations. CBI can change the chargesheet and can also file a supplementary chargesheet if required,” Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil said.
The recently concluded Maharshtra Assembly also said that the probe needed to be handed over to the CBI to give it credibility and to make sure that it was conducted in a fair manner.
The decision comes just weeks after the Maharashtra Police had claimed to have cracked the case and had pointed to a Pakistani hand behind the blasts, identifying several people in this connection.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra Police on Thursday had even filed a chargesheet in a special court against nine persons accused of involvement in the blasts.
According to the chargesheet, one of those wanted is a Pakistani national identified as Muzzamil.
The Maharashtra Police Anti-Terrorist Squad also produced accused Abrar Ahmed in court and he was remanded to judicial custody by judge Mrudula Bhatkar.
The other eight accused are currently in judicial custody and the court directed that they should be present in court on Friday when they will be given copies of the chargesheet.
At least 37 people were killed and 56 were seriously injured when three bombs concealed on cycles went off near a mosque in Maharashtra’s Malegaon town when people were coming out after Friday afternoon prayers.
Thousands of people were out on the streets on Friday for Shab-e-Barat, a festival during which people offer prayers to dead relatives.
The first blast occurred at 1345 hours IST and two more explosions follow in two minutes. Police suspect a timer device could have been used to trigger off the explosions.
A curfew was imposed in the textile town after the blasts and the Maharashtra Police sounded a statewide alert and had mobile networks jammed in the town to prevent rumours.
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