Police set to file charge-sheet against 3 ex-army officials

Nashik, Oct 26 (IANS) The Anti Terrorism Squad of the Maharashtra police is all set to file charge-sheets against three Pune-based retired army officers it is interrogating for training those allegedly involved in the Malegaon bomb blasts, officials said.

In fact, ATS special counsel Ajay Misar was Sunday ready in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate K.D. Boche 'with papers' pertaining to Major Prabhakar Kulkarni (retired), who was the commandant of Bhosala Military School here. But Misar was told late afternoon to file the charge-sheet Monday, the officials added.

The other two former servicemen, Major Y.D.Sahasrabuddhe and Major Ramesh Upadhyay whom ATS sleuths are grilling along with Maj. Kulkarni, also taught at the Bhosala Military School and later assisted its former commandant in providing training in making and exploding bombs using RDX, the officials said.

After serving the military school as commandant, Maj. Kulkarni also worked as the secretary of the Hindu Sainiki Sanstha that runs it, it was revealed.

While ATS officers were tight-lipped about the status of investigations and further steps, a source close to them said it was decided to file charge-sheet against all three former servicemen Monday after gathering more information.

Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, against whom ATS has already filed a charge-sheet along with her two accomplices Shivnarayan Singh and Shyam Bhavarlal Sahu for their involvement in the Sep 29 Malegaon bomb blast, was said to have been in constant touch with Maj. Kulkarni.

A former national executive member of Bharatiya Janata Party students' wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarth Parishad (ABVP), Sadhvi Pragya Singh was said to be associated with Hindu Jagaran Manch and known in Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh and Surat in Gujarat as a fire-brand, saffron-clad preacher.