Blast accused watched Black Friday for inspiration, says NIA chargesheet

Sukanya Shantha: Mumbai, Sat Jun 22 2013

The Hindi film Black Friday, based on the Bombay blasts of 1993, was shown during indoctrination meetings to "brainwash" the Hindu extremists who later took part in the serial bombings in Malegaon in 2006, says the National Investigation Agency's (NIA's) chargesheet in the case. The chargesheet includes the disclosure reports of four Indore men accused in the case, Manohar Narwariya, Dhan Singh, Rajendra Chaudhary and Lokesh Sharma.

All four have claimed they were shown the film in order to highlight alleged Muslim atrocities on Hindus during their training at Bagli in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh, says the chargesheet. Some details from the NIA's investigation were first reported by The Indian Express in January this year.Four bombs allegedly set off by the accused in Malegaon's Hamidiya Mosque and Mushawarat Chowk on September 8, 2006, killed 31 people. Narwariya, Singh, Chaudhary and Sharma have been charged with conspiracy and execution of the blasts.

According to the confessions, while Chaudhary, Singh and Narwariya watched the film, three others — Sharma, RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi, and absconding accused Ramji Kalsangra — prepared a bomb in the same hut in Bagli where the accused stayed during their training.

Joshi, who was murdered in December 2007, allegedly by rivals in Malegaon '06 accused watched Black Friday for inspiration: NIA chargesheet his own hardline Hindu group, had begun to brainwash the accused from as early as 2000, the chargesheet says.

According to Chaudhary's statement, recorded by NIA deputy superintendent B N Mishra, Chaudhary had joined Joshi, Sharma, Kalsangra and Ramesh Venkat Mahalkar alias Amit Hakla "to take revenge against the Muslim jihadis". "We all used to discuss that these jihadi attacks on Hindu temples are driven by Pakistani Muslims. We wanted to cause bomb blasts in masjids and other Musalman-dominated places," Chaudhary has said in his confession.

The training module drawn up by Joshi, Kalsangra and Sharma included bombmaking and firing from a pistol. All members of the group and those interested in participating in their activities were to be imparted this training, says the chargesheet.

While the accused have claimed they did not remember the exact dates of the training, Chaudhary has said in his statement that it was conducted some time in Jaunary 2006. "Three Marathi boys" also participated in the camp, the accused have said in their confession. The four men have given an elaborate description of their training camp, and told the NIA that the outcome was satisfactory.

Singh has claimed that after training to handle IEDs, he had gone up a hillock with an accomplice and crouched behind a large tree to watch the explosion, which created a loud sound and left a huge crater.

NIA to tell court its stand on Muslim accused

The National Investigation Agency is likely to inform the court on June 29 whether to finally exonerate the nine Muslim men arrested and charged for the Malegaon 2006 serial bombings case.

The NIA, whose findings have completely overturned the investigations by the Maharashtra ATS and CBI, and whose chargesheet in the case accuses Hindu extremists of planning and executing the blasts, has not yet taken an official stand on the matter.

Defence lawyers appearing for the nine Muslims — who have told the NIA that their confessions were extracted under duress — said they were hopeful that the agency would seek their clients' discharge.

"We will wait and watch till the next date. The chargesheet does not have any allegation against the nine persons who were arrested and made to languish for nearly five years in jail," Abdul Wahab Khan, who is appearing for the accused, said.

Seven of the nine men arrested by the ATS were released on bail after Swami Aseemanand told a magistrate that the attacks were carried out by Hindu extremists. The other two, who have also been named as accused in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings, remain behind bars.

The ATS had relied on soil samples recovered from the godown of Shabbir Masiullah alias Batterywala, which allegedly contained traces of RDX. Masiullah was named as the key conspirator, who the ATS said had procured the explosive material from Mumbai with the help of Mohammad Ali and Asif Bashir Khan.

Aseemanand's confession appears in the NIA's 1,207-page chargesheet, but he has not been made an accused in the case yet. NIA sources said a supplementary chargesheet would be filed in due course.

(With thanks from Indian Express; http://www.indianexpress.com/news/blast-accused-watched-black-friday-for-inspiration-says-nia-chargesheet/1132333/0)

Malegoan blast: 'RSS won't back terror, Indresh told Sunil Joshi’

Express News Service: Mumbai, Sat Jun 22 2013

Senior RSS leader Indresh Kumar was not comfortable with the Hindu extremists' plan to bomb Malegaon, according to the testimony given by an RSS pracharak to the NIA.

The pracharak, whose brother is a senior BJP leader, told the NIA that Indresh met Sunil Joshi, also an RSS pracharak and the alleged key planner of the Malegaon 2006 bombing, in Jaipur and told him that the Sangh would not approve of his plan.

"RSS aapke vichardhara se sahmat nahin hai aur in kaamon ke liye samarthan bhi nahi karegi (RSS does not agree with your ideology and will not support these activities), Indresh told Joshi, according to the pracharak, who has told the NIA that he was present in the room at the time of the alleged conversation between the two men.

Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in the Malegaon 2008 case, too was present at the meeting, the pracharak, whose testimony is part of the NIA chargesheet in the case, has claimed.

According to the pracharak, Indresh then advised Joshi to contact some religious group which could help him in his scheme. While Indresh allegedly left the same evening, Joshi assigned jobs to the members of his group.

Thakur was told to handle the media centre, and Lokesh Sharma and Ramji Kalsangra were given the job of collecting arms and ammunition.

According to the witness, the group lived in Jaipur for a few days before leaving for Dewas. In his statement, he has claimed that he had disagreed with Joshi's terror plans. Joshi, the witness has claimed, also took him to Kolkata to plan the assassination of Justice U C Banerjee, who was then heading the Godhra inquiry panel.

The witness has, however, confessed to having participated in the Badli camp training in January 2006 where he learnt to use a firearm and build a bomb.

(With thanks from Indian Express; http://www.indianexpress.com/news/malegoan-blast-rss-wont-back-terror-indresh-told-sunil-joshi-/1132336/)