The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will investigate and verify the claims of suspended police officer Mahiboob Mujawar that the two main absconding accused in the Malegaon blast case of 2008, Ramji alias Ramchandra Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange, were killed by the police.
Mujawar had claimed that three senior officials of the Maharashtra Police — two retired DGs and one high-ranking IPS official — tried to suppress information about the killings.
According to Mujawar, Dange and Kalsangra were picked up around the time when Sadhvi was arrested.
“On the night of the 26/11 attack, Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officers shot Kalsangra and Dange at Kalchowkie unit and later took their bodies to the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. They were shown as victims of 26/11,” he had claimed, and added that he would reveal the truth before the court.
The Maharashtra government, too, has promised to look into the matter. “We will look into the claims,” Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said. “We will look into the entire episode. We will have to check why no inquiry was conducted if the officer in 2009 had written to the DGP,” he added.
The blast on September 29, 2008, at Bhikku Chowk in the Muslim-dominated town of Malegaon in Nashik district—on the eve of Navratri—claimed six lives and injured 101 others.
The case was transferred from the Nashik Rural Police to the ATS and subsequently the NIA took over the probe.
The case was investigated by the then special inspector general of police Hemant Karkare, who laid down his life during the 26/11 terror attacks.