Was asked to apprehend Bhagwat over Malegaon blast: Former ATS official

A former police official who was part of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) that probed the 2008 Malegaon blast case has claimed that he had been asked to apprehend RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.

The objective behind the order was to establish that there was “saffron terror”, retired inspector Mehboob Mujawar alleged on Thursday, reacting to the trial court’s verdict acquitting all seven accused, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur.

The court’s ruling undid the “fake things” done by the ATS, he said, speaking at Solapur.

Notably, while the ATS initially probed the case, it was later taken over by the National Investigation Agency.

“The verdict exposed the fake investigation done by a fake officer,” Mujawar further said, naming a senior official.

He was part of the ATS team that probed the blast at Malegaon on September 29, 2008, in which six persons were killed and 101 injured, Mujawar said.

“I cannot 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.

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