• Source:JND
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2008 Malegaon Blast: In a surprising development, a former police official who was part of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) that investigated the 2008 Malegaon blast case claimed on Thursday that he was ordered to arrest RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to establish saffron terror theory.

Reacting to the trial court's order, retired inspector Mehiboob Mujawar said that ruling undid the "fake things" done by the ATS. "The verdict exposed the fake investigation done by a fake officer," Mujawar further said, naming a senior official.

Mujawar was part of the ATS team, which initially probed the Malegaon blast on September 29, 2008, which killed six and injured 101 others. However, the probe was later taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

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"I can not say what investigation the ATS did then and why....But I was given some confidential orders regarding personalities like Ram Kalsangra, Sandip Dange, Dilip Patidar and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. All these orders were not such that one could follow them," he said.

He added that he did not follow the orders as they were "horrific" and he knew the reality. He added that it was beyond his capacity to arrest Bhagwat. Mujawar recalled how his defiance cost him his career.

"It was beyond my capacity to apprehend a towering personality like Mohan Bhagwat. As I did not follow the orders, a false case was registered against me and it destroyed my career of 40 years," he alleged.

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Mujawar claimed to have documented proof to back his claims. "There was no saffron terrorism. Everything was fake," he said. On Thursdy, the trial court acquitted all the seven accused in the case, including Sadhvi Pragya and Col Srikant Purhoit.

(With PTI Inputs)