On 10th May 2008, a blast rocked a magistrate court in Hubli, Karnataka where seven SIMI members suspected of terrorist activities were to be produced before the court. No one was hurt in the blast and Maharastra police later arrested Zakti Shaukat Ali Iqbal Ahmed who was then transferred to the Karnataka police for further investigations.
The incident and the arrest was widely covered in the media and rediff.com reported that the Hubli blast was linked to Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Dargah blasts.
A day after the blast at a court hall in Hubli, the police have found a vital clue in the form of a SIM card, which was used in the mobile phone to trigger of the blasts on Saturday. The Hubli police are now trying to link both the Ajmer and Hyderabad blasts in which the bombs were triggered by cell phones. [Rediff.com]
As it turns out the Hubli blast was perpetuated by Nagaraj Jambagi, a dacoit with links to a Hindutva organization, Sri Ram Sena.
“Following his arrest Jambagi confessed to his role in the Hubli court blast of 2008. When we searched his house it led to the discovery of a pipe bomb. We don’t know what group he is associated with. We are trying to find that out,†Inspector General of Police, Northern Division, Raghavendra Auradkar said.
Sources in the state police intelligence however told The Indian Express that Jambagi and two others in his gang  Ramesh Pawar and Lingaraj Jalagar, both 24 and from Bagalkot  “are members of a radical right wing Hindu groupâ€Â. The police were trying to find out “who was controlling their activitiesâ€Â, a senior officer said.
Sources in Hubli said Jambagi at one point had links with the Sri Rama Sena, a right wing group started by the firebrand former Bajrang Dal leader from the region, Pramod Mutallik. [Indian Express]
This revealation comes on the heel of the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Shrikant Purohit amongst others for their involvement in the 2008 Malegaon blast.
Indian Muslims have long protested that after every terrorist incident, youths from the community are randomly arrested to show that the police is doing something and then released quietly when nothing is proven against them. On the other hand no serious line of investigation has been pursued against Hindutva extremists even when there were many indications of their involvement.
On 6th April 2006 there was a blast in Nanded, Maharastra where two Sangh Parivar activists were killed when a bomb they were making exploded.
The blast occurred very early on the morning of April 6 in Nanded, at the residence of a retired irrigation department engineer and RSS worker, Lakshman Rajkondawar. It killed his son Naresh Lakshman Rajkondawar, and one Himanshu Venkatesh Panse. Three others, Yogesh Ravindra Deshpande Vidholkar, Maroti Kishore Wagh and Gururaj Jayaram Tuptewar, were seriously injured. Another injured, Rahul Manoharao Pande, managed to flee from the scene of the explosion, but was arrested later. [Tehelka.com]
Fake beards and skull caps were also recovered from the house. India Today now reports that the CBI didn’t pursue Nanded blast investigation throughly.
The CBI’s slack investigation into the Nanded blast is getting exposed with every new development in the Malegaon bombing.
Despite recent disclosures of Malegaon accused Rakesh Dhawade, the CBI has not pursued the case of two teachers of chemistry in Pune.
Dhawade, a suspect in the Malegaon case told Jalna Police how two Pune college teachers gave training in bomb-making to Hindutva terror suspects. But the CBI, which is investigating the Nanded blast that accidently killed two Sangh Parivar activists in 2006, has been dragging its feet despite questioning one of the teachers.
Dhawade arrested for his involvement in the Malegoan blast has named Sharad Kunte, a professor at Narsooji Wadia College in Pune, and K. Deo, who trained Hindutva terror suspects to make pipe bombs at Akansha resort, also in Pune, in 2003.
Kunte was the VHP’s Pune unit president for several years.
It was learnt that the CBI had questioned Kunte a few months ago, but didn’t bother to question or arrest him again after Dhawade’s statement. [India Today]
Malegaon residents believe that the Malegaon blasts could have been avoided if there was a proper investigation after the Nanded blast.
It is interesting to note that the police found a pipe bomb at Nagaraj Jambadi’s house in Hubli and Rakesh Dhawade claiming that Sharad Kunte taught him to make pipe bombs in Pune.
Similarly on 2nd May 2006 there was a blast in Ghatkopar Chawl in which one Rama Bharti died while making a bomb. Use of ammonium nitrate and gun powder was confirmed in the blasts. Maharastra police then arrested Manoj Kumar Singh and also Vineeta Verma from Lucknow. She was believed to be a carrier for explosives from Lucknow to Mumbai.
On 24th January 2008 a blast rocked RSS office in Tenkasi, Tamil Nadu and three Hindu Munnanis activists were arrested. The idea was to create communal tension just before the Republic Day.
Speaking to reporters at Tenkasi on Monday, Inspector General of Police, South Zone, Sanjeev Kumar, said S. Ravi Pandian, a cable TV operator, and S. Kumar alias KTC Kumar, an auto driver, both hailing from Tenkasi, and V. Narayana Dharma of Shencottai had fabricated 14 pipe bombs in Mr. Pandian’s office. [The Hindu]ÂÂ
Pipe bombs again.
On 27th August 2008, Rajiv Mishra and Bhupinder Singh were killed in a Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh hostel room while assembling bombs. Both were members of Bajrang Dal.
The police have found a diary and a register from Mishra’s room which contained contact numbers of the office-bearers of various Hindu organisations in Gujarat, Delhi, Rajasthan and Maharashtra, sources said.
Kanpur SSP Ashok Kumar Singh said, “Though test reports from FSL, Agra, will take some time, we know that the explosives stored in the room were enough to cause damage. Mishra and Singh had held significant posts in Bajrang Dal in the past, and the investigation so far clearly indicates their objective.†DIG of ATS Rajiv Krishna said, “Their intention was to plant bombs. The probe will further decipher the motive.†[Indian Express]
A chargesheet filed by the Maharastra Anti Terror Squad (ATS) in October 2008 states that 36 Bajrang Dal activists received systemic training in bomb making and then used it to bomb Mohammadiya Masjid in Parbhani in November 2003, the Quadriya Masjid in Jalna and Meraj-ul-Uloom Masjid in Purna in August 2004.
These revealations when seen from a bigger context are very alarming especially with links pointing to Sangh Parivar members or its off-shoot organizations. Even more so when one of the two major Indian political parties considers Sangh Parivar as its spiritual fountainhead. It is important to note that the involvement of Sangh Parivar’s hierarchy in these incidents is neither alleged nor proven. But it is safe to say that if members of Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind (JIH) were remotely involved in such incidences then the media coverage (and consequently the public perception) would have been entirely different. And God forbid if they were ever associated with the Congress party!
Now, we are treading on very dangerous ground here.  Whereas the objective of Islamist terrorist organizations go far beyond responding to Hindutva attacks, such revealations might feed into their “Indian Muslims are under seige and Islam khatre meN hai” propaganda. At the same time any serious investigation will have to proceed under the shadow of Hindu victimhood. Also with general elections round the corner there is always a danger of politicization of the whole issue.
Terror investigations should never be conducted as a method of “getting back” at a community. But it is also important for a democratic country like ours that all such incidences are properly investigated to their logical conclusion. Media should get into the habit of asking tough questions. India’s interests will be best served when all of us unequivocally condemn terrorism in all of its forms. Terrorism in an Indian problem, not a Muslim problem or a Hindu problem and needs to be tackled as such.ÂÂ
Image Courtesy: Hubli Court Blast
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More and more evidence is being unearthed against the saffron brigade. They need to be tried in fast track courts and be given the punishment they deserve. The harrassment that youths from the minority face every time there is a blast has got to stop.
Every impartial and right thinking indian has to speak out against this.
Investigative agencies and journalists covering terrorism cases should definitely look at the conspiracy case but without communal glasses blinding their vision. Terrorism is a real problem that affects all Indians irrespective of caste and religion to contain this problem we need to treat it as such and do proper investigations to get to the bottom of these things and find out the planners who are out to destroy India.
India’s interests will be best served when all of us unequivocally condemn terrorism in all of its forms. Terrorism in an Indian problem, not a Muslim problem or a Hindu problem and needs to be tackled as such.
Well said, Mohib.
Actually, I see the Malegaon and Hubli cases somewhat differently. It suggests to me that the police is actually not communal in its investigations by default. Or let me put that differently. While individual officers may differ in their beliefs and this can colour investigations to some extent, the system does not completely fail. The Hubli case is being investigated in a state ruled by the BJP. This suggests that the police itself is acting somewhat impartially. The problem is thus not with the police itself, but the political leadership that controls the police. If the political leadership is like the one in Gujarat, police is unlikely to be able to act impartially. If the political leadership is like the one in Bihar (or Karnataka, as it appears from this case, though one case cannot conclusively establish it), the police can be quite impartial.
Thus, the solution in my mind is to force changes in the administrative structure, such that politicians cannot completely control the course of investigations. In the US system for instance, the District Attorney (who decides whether to pursue a criminal case and whom to prosecute) is an elected official. A DA who is seen as independent of the politicians is likely to get reelected, while a pliant one is unlikely to be. This system by itself may not work in India (in Gujarat, most DAs will also be BJP politicians under such a system). However, the principle of separation of politicians from the police and investigating authorities makes sense. Maybe something like the model followed in India itself for the Election Commission. Impartiality in appointments and promotions (e.g. all DGPs and IGPs to be appointed by a committee comprised equally of Government and opposition members in the state legislature), transparency (all such committee meetings happening in public view, with the media and any citizen welcome to attend) and security of tenure (to prevent subjugation of police officials through indiscriminate transfers) are some ways to insulate the police from the politicians.
We need to pursue systemic measures. We cannot totally prevent the elections of the likes of Modi. We can however ensure that crimes will not go unpunished. In such a system, I would bet that Modi or Babu Bajrangi would be more circumspect in what they do (or face the consequences).
Girish:
Good to see you commenting again.
It is indeed laudable that such revelations came out from a BJP-ruled state. It should also be noted that the investigators were looking for something else and Jambagi’s involvement in the Hubli blast was a chance discovery. However, the police could have hushed the involvement which it didn’t, and kudos to them and to the BJP government.
Actually Muslims might be ready to lend an ear to BJP if it makes a strong case to them. If BJP comes across as a culturally conservative and “tough on terrorism” party then Muslims might have a rethink on their voting preference. However, it should first distance itself from those who demonize Muslims and perpetual hate-mongers like the Thackerays. Its conduct in the light of Malegaon revelations has also been despicable which hasn’t exactly endeared itself to many Indians, including Muslims.
A day after the blast at a court hall in Hubli, the police have found a vital clue in the form of a SIM card, which was used in the mobile phone to trigger of the blasts on Saturday. The Hubli police are now trying to link both the Ajmer and Hyderabad blasts in which the bombs were triggered by cell phones.
Now that the Perpetrators of the Hubli blast are establish, could the govt. follow it up Ajmer and Hydrabad blast to unearth the Hindutva goons??
Moderator’s Note: Comment Edited
I totally agree that the conduct of the BJP post the Malegaon relevations has been rather poor.
This was a time for the BJP to prove themselves to be true nationalists and root for the terrorists to be brought to book irrespective of their creed.
However, the BJP did fail miserably. It is doubtful if this party will get the mandate of the people at the hustings.
It may be recalled that Karnataka assembly election First phase,covering 89 out of a total 224 seats and 11 districts on 10th May,2008.The bomb blast took place in Hubl on that date.And on Tuesday 13th May,2008,serial bomb blasts took place in BJP ruled Rajasthan’s capital city-Jaipur!The Second phase polling in Karnataka was on 16th May!Obviously it appears that these two were part of a grand design to establish that UPA govt. is soft towards terrorism!The final outcome of the polls vouch the same.In all these cases unnecessarily Muslims were blamed, arrested and tortured. Only after Karkare succeeded in Malegaon blast inquiry the truth came out!
Even if 50% of us, the government servants serve to our pledges, India will not be let down. Another factor which Hindus need to realise is that the ‘Muslim Vote Bank’ is a myth and the defection of Kalyan Singh, rebellion of veteran Bhairon Singh Shekhawat is an outcome of ‘caste based vote banks’ which are further subdivided into regionalism etc. Now, something like a branch of Bank of Maharashtra being burnt in Bangalore or a Karnatak RTC bus torched in Maharashtra is a reality which is saddening. Those who could not relate my scribble above with the write-up and comments need to work hard that our goal is not a marketist and militaristic India aligned to a group, a soft target in any future WW but an econically and socially developed country which is humane and is capable of defening itself (not like Israel, just calling IDF is not sticking any longer).
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