The court order came after the confession of Hindu party leader Swami Aseemanand to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in which he gave detailed statement of his alleged involvement and role in the Pakistan-bound Samjauta Express train and also in the Ajmer and Hyderabad’s Makkah Masjid blasts.

Aseemanand, who was arrested by the NIA, was sent to 14-days judicial custody by the Patiala court of Haryana state and lodged in the Ambala prison.

The CBI counsel Ejaz Khan told the MCOCA court in Mumbai that the CBI wanted to re-investigate the Malegaon blasts case in light of Aseemanand’s confession. Khan also informed the court that the CBI would request for Aseemanand’s custody to interrogate him along with another Hindu priest Pragaya Singh Thakur who is also in jail along with 10 other Hindu militants for their role in the Malegaon blasts.

In related development, Mufti Mohammed Ismail Khalique, the legislator from Malegaon, said that he will lead a delegation of Muslims to Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Jan. 20 to seek the release of innocent Muslim youths arrested in connection with the Malegaon blasts of 2006.

Speaking to the media, Khalique said that after Aseemanand’s confession it was clear that the Muslim youths arrested in the blast case, were innocent and their arrests was part of a conspiracy by some police officials. “We will during our meeting with Chidambaram insist upon the government to take stern action against the police officials’ responsible for fabricating the case and thrusting the innocent Muslim youths in the prison.”

Meanwhile the National Muslim Front (NMF) has demanded that the Maharashtra government set free all the Muslims arrested in the Malegaon blast case. “Now that it has been revealed by Aseemanand that the Hindu radicals had triggered the blasts in Malegaon, the government should immediately release all the arrested Muslims,” a leader of the NMF said.