Malegaon blasts: ATS says it has evidence against 9 Muslim men

The state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Monday submitted a 19-page reply to the discharge applications filed by eight of the nine Muslim accused in the 2006 Malegaon blasts case.

"The agency has gathered enough evidence to prove that the accused are involved in hatching a conspiracy," reads the reply filed before the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

ATS says the material collected from the spot, where the explosives were allegedly assembled, was tested by the forensic science laboratory and the report had come positive.

The ATS has claimed that after it had completed the probe, the case was transferred to the CBI and the supplementary charge sheet filed by the latter also supported the work done by the state agency.

The blasts at Malegaon on September 8, 2006 claimed 37 lives, leaving over 125 injured. The local police and ATS had arrested nine Muslim men and filed a charge sheet against them. In February 2007, CBI took over the case.

However, in 2013, the National Investigating Agency (NIA) arrested four Hindu men after right-wing leader Swami Aseemanad took the responsibility of the blasts.

After the NIA filed a supplementary charge sheet against the four Hindu men, the Muslim accused filed their discharge application on the grounds that they were falsely implicated by the ATS.

The NIA has cleared these nine men, claiming that the blasts were the handiwork of the members of a Hindu extremist group. The national agency has said it will not oppose the Muslim men's application. The CBI too has filed a similar reply.