R R Patil to press for CBI probe in Malegaon blasts

Indicating that the state government would not mind banning the frontal organisations of the RSS in the aftermath of the confession of jailed RSS leader Swami Aseemanand connection, Home Minister R R Patil has asked the ATS to furnish him a list of the fanatic organisations.

Speaking to the newspersons after a delegation of Muslim intellectuals and victims of the Malegaon blasts called on him on Monday, Patil acceded to their demand to request the CBI to reinvestigate the Malegaon blasts in light of the new evidence of saffron link to the case Aseemanand, prime accused in Mecca Masjid blast case, had confessed that he and several Sangh activists, among others, had a direct role in Malegaon, Samjhauta Express, Ajmer and Mecca blasts.

"Any organisation which is involved in terrorist activities should be banned. I have asked ATS to get history sheet of the organisations involved in terror acts," Patil said.

He however remained mum on the demand to ban the RSS and only said that government would decide after scrutinising the past history of fanatic outfits operating in the state. Muslim intellectuals asked the government to free young Muslim men held in connection with the 2006 Malegaon bomb blast,. A delegation of Muslim scholars met Home Minister R. R. Patil and said that the confessional statement of Aseemanand had exposed his role in the Sep 8, 2006, Malegaon blast. The scholars said that innocent Muslim youths nabbed in the case should be released forthwith and the incident should be re- investigated.

The delegation was led by Mumbai Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Narendra Verma, former legislator Sohail Lokhandwala, Raza Academy secretary general Mohammed Saeed Noorie and Sunni Jamiatul Ulema secretary general Maulana Mansoor Ali Khan. In a memorandum submitted to Patil, the delegation said it was now time for the government to undo the excesses committed against the Muslim community in the state and the community members should be compensated for the mental agony and physical torture they had been subjected to. Making a similar demand, former labour minister and NCP leader Nawab Malik has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and union Home Minister P. Chidambaram.

In the letter, Malik said that 'whatever mistakes have been done' must be rectified now.