Mumbai, November 20: Two Years of hard work by the CBI, intelligence agencies as well as the Anti- Terrorism Squad ( ATS) of various states finally helped sleuths nab absconding terror accused Swami Asimanand on Friday.
And now that the godman is in CBI net, they believe he is likely to spill the beans on other fundamentalists, with officers of the Maharashtra ATS saying he will expose the “ roots and branches” of saffron terror.
But nabbing him wasn’t easy.
Investigative officers were well aware of the clout he exercised in Gujarat — his proximity to chief minister Narendra Modi was well known — and so, they had to tread carefully.
Besides Modi, Asimanand also enjoyed the patronage of Mangubhai Patel, a Gujarat cabinet minister. He was also close to other BJP and RSS leaders.
According to Maharashtra ATS officers, Asimanand was not named as an accused in the Malegaon blasts case until they had evidence. Even when Maharashtra ATS teams trailed the godman from Gujarat till the Nepal border, they did not disclose that they were looking for him.
“ This was because naming Asimanand would have brought a whole lot of pressure on us, from not just the BJP but also from the Congress. So, we did not include his name in the charge sheet until we had some evidence against him,” an ATS officer said.
Later, the ATS charge sheet in the Malegaon case named Asimanand as a ‘ conspirator’ and declared him as an ‘ absconding’ accused.
But the effort was well worth it. “ His arrest is going to open a can of worms. Various RSS leaders used to meet Asimanand whenever they came to his ashram in Dang in Gujarat,” the ATS officer said.
“ Since Asimanand has been shown to be involved in the Makkah Masjid and Ajmer blasts, the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act ( MCOCA) can be used against him. This will lead us to the other accused,” he added.
The ATS believes that interrogating Asimanand would help it trace the Malegaon bomb planters, Pravin Mutalik and Sandeep Dange, who are also absconding.
Courtesy: Mailtoday