MUMBAI: A team of senior police officials from the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) left for New Delhi yesterday to investigate involvement of some more senior army officials and also to interrogate some temple officials in Haryana where some of the Malegaon blasts accused had hatched conspiracy to carry out blasts in Malegaon, according to sources close to the ATS.
The ATS, during the course of interrogation of the blasts accused, is reported to have been told about the involvement of five more senior army officers, who had played some role in the planning of the blasts and the ATS officials are likely to interrogate them after getting clearance from the Defense Ministry, the sources said.
A team consisting of senior officers of the Military Intelligence including the Director General of Military Intelligence and senior officials of the ATS and Maharashtra police are said to interrogate the five army officers. It is suspected that the officers have allegedly helped the mastermind of the Malegaon blasts Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit, now in ATS custody in executing the blasts.
The federal government is deeply concerned with the links of some army officers with hardcore Hindu militant organizations. However, the chief of the Indian Army Lt. Gen. Deepak Kapoor said adequate and necessary steps are being taken to ensure that such incidents of involvement of army officers do not occur in future.
Meanwhile, the ATS officials denied the charges leveled by the accused in the Malegaon blasts case in the court that they were beaten mercilessly and kicked all around their bodies. The woman priest accused, Pragya Thakur, has alleged in the court that the ATS officials threatened to make her naked and that they allegedly showed her obscene CDs and used vulgar and abusive language against her.
