Mumbai: The Bombay High Court
(HC) Monday directed the Maharashtra
government to give explanations as to why the investigations of
September 2006 Malegaon blast were handed over to the Central Bureau
of Investigation (CBI).
The court's order
came in view of an appeal filed by three accused in the case.
Malegaon, the textile town in North
Maharashtra was attacked by terrorists in September 2006. The blasts
that had taken place outside and near a mosque had killed more than
30 people and injured over 300, all of them Muslims. The
investigating agencies alleged the involvement of the Muslim youths
belonging to SIMI into the incident.
Finally, they arrested nine Muslim
youths who are lingering in the jail since last three years.
Following the persistent demand from
the town that by and large believed the arrested youths are
innocent, the government handed the investigations to CBI.
The CBI, however, despite being
in-charge of the investigations since last December 2006 has not
completed its investigations so far. Consequently, three of the nine
accused filed a petition in the High Court seeking speedy completion
of the CBI probe.
Interestingly, the state government
had handed the investigations to the CBI after the Anti Terrorism
Squad (ATS) filed its
chargesheet into the case.
The High Court
today also said that
the cause for the transfer of investigations after the charge sheet
was filed needs to be examined.
The petitioners
has also sought
to investigate into the manner in which the inquiry was conducted in
the case.
The High Court has
asked the
state
government to file an affidavit in this
regard within two weeks.
Meanwhile, local MLA Mufti Mohd Ismael
while speaking to ummid.com said, "Justice delayed is justice
denied. According to the precedent, the CBI should have completed
its investigations in one year's time. Here, more than three years
have passed and we are yet to see any progress while the accused are
lingering in jail."
With inputs from ANI
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