‘Was asked to arrest Mohan Bhagwat’: Former ATS official claims after Malegaon verdict

Mehiboob Mujawar claimed that the verdict undid the "fake things" done by the ATS. The probe in the Malegaon case was done by ATS and later handed to NIA.

Published on: Aug 1, 2025, 14:18:05 IST

By HT News Desk

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A former police official, who was part of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) probe into the Malegaon blast case, has claimed that he was asked to arrest RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat addressing an event in New Delhi. (PTI)

Retired inspector Mehiboob Mujawar has alleged that the objective behind arresting Mohan Bhagwat was to establish that there was "saffron terror".

The statement comes after a special NIA court on Thursday acquitted all seven accused in the Malegaon blast case, 17 years after a bomb exploded in the Muslim-dominated area of Maharashtra's Malegaon during the month of Ramadan in 2008.

Reacting to the court's verdict, Mehiboob Mujawar said that the ruling undid the "fake things" done by the ATS. The probe in the Malegaon case was done by the ATS, and it was later taken over by the National Investigation Agency.

"The verdict exposed the fake investigation done by a fake officer," Mujawar said, according to PTI.

He said he was asked to "go and catch" Mohan Bhagwat. He, however, added that he did not follow the orders as they were "horrific" and "I knew the reality."

"I cannot say what investigation the ATS did then and why...But I was given some confidential orders regarding personalities like Ram Kalsangra, Sandip Dange, Dilip Patidar and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. All these orders were not such that one could follow them," he said.

"It was beyond my capacity to apprehend a towering personality like Mohan Bhagwat. As I did not follow the orders, a false case was registered against me and it destroyed my career of 40 years," he added.

Mujawar was part of the ATS team that began the probe of the blast in Malegaon on September 29, 2008, in which six people were killed and 101 others were injured.

"There was no saffron terrorism. Everything was fake," he added. He also claimed that he had documentary proof to back his claims.

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