Malegaon blasts: Muslim cleric demands CBI probe

Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind has alleged negligence on part of the administration in preventing the Malegaon blasts.

Stating that people have lost faith in local police, Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind chief Maulana Arshad Madni today demanded a CBI probe into the September 8 blasts in the town and sought higher compensation for the victims' families.

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Congress President Sonia Gandhi should depute a representative to look into the affairs of Malegaon and visit the town after three months to see whether the promises have been fulfilled, he said while speaking to reporters here.

Madni demanded Rs five lakh compensation each for the next of the deceased instead of Rs one lakh announced earlier.

He was accompanied by Congress leader Kripashankar Singh, who had come to meet the families of the blast victims and those injured.

Singh, a former Minister of State for Home, said he would take note of the fresh demands and place them before the state government and Centre.

Meanwhile, the local unit of the organisation has alleged negligence on part of the administration in preventing the blasts that claimed 31 lives.

Despite recovery of arms and ammunition from some parts of Maharashtra in May last, the local police failed to make proper security arrangements, it said a statement here.

The organisation said the state governemnt had failed to implement its promise of setting up a 100-bed hospital in the powerloom town after the riots of 2001.