Witness claims he was forced to name RSS workers in Malegaon blast case

Mumbai: Following the revelation by a witness, who turned hostile, in the 2008 Malegaon blast case that he was forced to name five RSS members, including Yogi Adityanath, a BJP leader who himself was named in the case alleged that the Congress's UPA government had played a part in the case to change its angle, The Indian Express reported.

Sunil Deodhar, BJP's national secretary, told TIE that the witness who named him along with Yogi Adityanath, Indresh Kumar, Aseemanand and Kakkaji was put under pressure through torture.

There was a larger conspiracy to coin the usage 'Hindu Terror' behind this, he said. He did not even know who Kakkaji- one of the names stated by the witness- was.

Dheodhar said that after the blast, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) met in Alibaug, where party head Sharad Pawar said Muslims never do blasts on a Friday since they consider the day sacred. Such a stand by Pawar gave the case a new angle.

Dheodhar claimed he was even not in the BJP then but was taking care of Hindu Jagaran Manch of RSS in Mumbai. He had exposed the then Congress-led Maharashtra government, which was protecting terrorists, he said, implying that could be why he got named in the case.

He said there was one particular SMS in circulation saying that all Muslims are not terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims. Muslims were responsible for every explosion across the country, but there was also a conspiracy to implicate Hindus for the blasts.

There is no such thing as Hindu Terror, he claimed, but the government then in Maharashtra misused probe agencies to attack Opposition, which was never something new for Congress, and Pawar was in Congress before, he asserted. He alleged that the current government will never re-investigate the case since they played a part in it.

A witness in the Malegaon blast case had claimed that he was put under illegal detention for seven days and Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad in 2008 pressured him to name five RSS members, including current Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Hence, the prosecution led by NIA has demanded before the court to declare the witness hostile. The witness was the 220th one to remove from the still running trial on the case and the 15th one turning hostile.