With the role of a serving Army Lieutenant Colonel coming under cloud in the Malegaon blasts, the government has roped in its domestic snooping agency, the Intelligence Bureau (IB), to conduct a parallel probe in the case.
Defence Minister AK Antony told reporters here on Friday that the IB, along with the Maharashtra police, was already investigating the Malegaon blasts and the role of serving Army personnel.
"Already Maharashtra police and the IB are investigating the matter. Let us see the result of the investigation. Army is fully cooperating in the investigation," Antony said, replying to a question on his Ministry's views on the alleged role of serving Army personnel in the Malegaon blasts.
Refusing to state anything further on Lieutenant Colonel's role, Antony said, "Two responsible agencies are investigating the case and the Army is fully assisting them. At this stage, I do not want to make any comments."
The Army had announced on Thursday that it had already sent the officer concerned to Mumbai for allowing interaction between him and the police to enable forward movement in the blasts probe.
The September 29 blasts in Malegaon had claimed about half-a-dozen Muslim's lives and the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra police had arrested sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, retired Army major Ramesh Upadhyaya and his associate Sharad Kulkarni in connection with the blasts.
{{/usCountry}}The September 29 blasts in Malegaon had claimed about half-a-dozen Muslim's lives and the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra police had arrested sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, retired Army major Ramesh Upadhyaya and his associate Sharad Kulkarni in connection with the blasts.
{{/usCountry}}The ATS wanted to question the Lieutenant Colonel, who is currently posted at the Army Education Corps School in Panchmarhi in Madhya Pradesh, for his alleged links with the suspects in the case.