Date:09/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/09/stories/2008110959891000.htm

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CBI looking for links between Nanded and Malegaon blasts

Meena Menon

‘Mithun Chakravarty’ named in Nanded case remains unidentified, untraceable

Chakravarty trained the accused in bomb making: police
But no one seems to know him except Himanshu Panse, who was killed in blast

MUMBAI: In the April 2006 Nanded blast case, a mysterious name kept cropping up in the course of investigations. More than one accused named “Mithun Chakravarty,” referred to as “Sir.”

However, this man was never traced. The former Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) chief and now Additional Director- General of Police, K.P. Raghuvanshi, told The Hindu that Chakravarty was not identified, nor was he traceable.

Chakravarty was the man who trained the accused in making bombs, the police official said.

No one seemed to know him except Himanshu Panse, who was one of the two persons killed in the blast. Mr. Raghuvanshi said the blast was caused by Hindu fundamentalists and even in the September 29, 2008 Malegaon incident, it appeared so.

Activist Teesta Setalvad, who has been monitoring the Nanded case, has written in Communalism Combat that Chakravarty was excluded from the scope of further investigation even after the Central Bureau of Investigation had taken over the case from the ATS. Now the CBI is trying to find links between the Nanded and Malegaon blasts and there is speculation that Chakravarty could be the missing link.

Right-wing involvement

According to sources, the two blasts point to the involvement of right-wing groups. While nothing is official, Mr. Arun Kumar, CBI Joint Director, who is in the city, has reportedly questioned Lt. Col. Shrikant Prasad Purohit, an accused in the Malegaon blast case. When contacted, all Mr. Arun Kumar would say on record was that the CBI had issued a four-line statement from New Delhi.

According to R. K. Gaur, press information officer, the statement read: “The CBI has investigated the Nanded blasts and filed a charge sheet on March 15, 2008. The ATS Maharashtra has arrested nine persons during the investigations of the Malegaon bomb blast case. The CBI has established informal interaction with the Maharashtra ATS in connection with the investigation. The ATS is doing investigation into the sensitive case in a very professional manner. In case they require any assistance, the CBI is ready to provide all cooperation.”

In the supplementary charge sheet filed on November 9 by the ATS in the Nanded blast case, Mithun Chakravarty is mentioned as the person who trained the accused in making pipe bombs. He also trained the accused Maruti Keshav Wagh, Himanshu Panse, Sanjay Choudhari and Yogesh Ravindra Vidulkar in 2003 at Akanksha Resort near Sinhagad in Pune district.

Chakravarty trained all these men in making three types of bombs including an improvised explosive device. The men learnt how to prepare bombs and explode them during the training. Chakravarty gave Himanshu Panse explosives at the end of the training.

His name cropped up even in the reports on narco analysis done on Sanjay Choudhari and another accused, Rahul Manohar Pande. On preparation of the bomb, Pande said two persons had given training to Panse; one of them was named Mithun Chakravarty from Pune.

During the narco analysis on Sanjay Choudhari, he said the person who had given them training “was called ‘Sir’ by Himanshu and his name is Mithun Chakraborthy who had a beard, was tall and stout built and while returning, from the training, at the Pune railway station, he gave a bag which contained material used for preparing the bomb.”