Mumbai, April 09: The Malegaon blast accused talked about RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat in a derogatory manner and discussed how a person could be killed by merely applying a specific powder on his footwear, Maharashtra home minister R. R. Patil said on Thursday.
Patil, replying to a debate over law and order in the state legislative assembly, said the police were in possession of a tape of telephonic conversation between two accused in the September 2008 blasts in Gujarat and Maharashtra.
“The postmortem reports would not have revealed anything the accused boasted,” the minister said, adding that the accused did not deem Bhagwat as worthy to lead the RSS. The investigations had revealed the involvement of Hindu outfits in the blasts and led to arrests, including those of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt- Col Srikant Prasad Purohit.
Patil was referring to a point raised by NCP legislator Jitendra Avhad who had said his friends in Hindutva outfits were not safe from their own people.
“Their own men planned to kill them. I am worried about their safety,” Avhad said.
He later revealed that the accused “ were planning to kill not only Bhagwat, but several others, including top BJP leaders”. “ It is therefore strange to see BJP leaders taking up cudgels for Pragya Singh Thakur,” Avhad added.
Sources said slain Anti- Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare, who was investigating the Malegaon blast, had revealed the details to Bhagwat and had also briefed the Centre about the accused’s plans to kill BJP leaders.
The Prime Minister ( Manmohan Singh) had apprised the top BJP leadership of the plans of the Malegaon accused. Yet, they are siding with Pragya, NCP sources said.
–Agencies