Thackeray, Munde question Malegaon probe

Mumbai, Nov 12 (IANS) Even as the Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) continued its crackdown on alleged Hindu fundamentalist terror operatives, the Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday attacked the Congress-led governments at the centre and in Maharashtra, accusing them of defaming Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and the Indian Army.

In an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamna, Sena chief Bal Thackeray repeated his charge that the Congress was appeasing Muslims, while BJP general secretary Gopinath Munde alleged that the ruling party was targeting and defaming Hindu religious leaders.

"So far, no offence has been proved against any of the accused in the Malegaon blast case. But the tone and tenor of the ATS investigations indicate that it has already made up its mind to convict and hang Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit," Thackeray said in the editorial. He called upon the ATS to investigate the source of funds inflows from abroad that helped finance Muslim terrorists in India.

Speaking to mediapersons here Wednesday evening, Munde also alleged that the ATS was working "under pressure from (union Agriculture Minister) Sharad Pawar."

He claimed that the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ruling combine in the state was framing Hindu organizations since they apprehended loss of minority votes as names of community members had cropped in the blasts around the country in the past four months.