National Security Advisor meets Advani

National Security Advisor MK Narayanan on Friday assured Leader of Opposition LK Advani that the government would probe allegations of torture against the ATS levelled by Malegaon blasts accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. Shekhar Iyer reports.

As directed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, National Security Advisor MK Narayanan on Friday assured Leader of

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Opposition LK Advani that the government would probe allegations of torture against the Maharashtra anti-terror squad (ATS) levelled by Malegaon blasts accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.

Advani told Narayanan and Intelligence Bureau Director P.C. Haldar that the BJP and he would not stand in the way of any professional probe into acts of terror. Former IB director Ajit Doval was also present during the 40-minute meeting.

Narayanan met Advani to brief him on the Malegaon probe and redress his apprehension, which he had conveyed to the Prime Minister, who called on him to know why he had issued a statement in support of the sadhvi’s affidavit filed in a Nashik court.

“Advani told the NSA that his charges against the ATS were confined to and based on the details mentioned by the Sadhvi in her affidavit. He clarified that it had nothing to do with the investigation,” BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters after the meeting.

Advani’s concern, he is said to have conveyed to the security officials, was limited to the sadhvi’s allegations of torture in police custody. And that the ATS probe should not have political overtones by way of leaks to the media.

Meanwhile, senior BJP and RSS leaders dismissed the ATS’s allegations that some accused in the Malegaon blast were planning to target senior sangh leaders. It had no evidence to back its line of probe against Hindu groups, RSS national executive member Ram Madhav told Hindustan Times. “What is the need for the ATS to feed a new story about a plot to kill Sangh leaders after earlier stories to link the accused with the RSS? If there is evidence, present it before the court. Stop defaming Hindu groups. Do a professional investigation,” Madhav said.

Rudy said the Congress was using the probe to defame the BJP: “The whole ATS probe is so full of contradictions, it has lost direction.”

With Pradip Kumar Maitra in Nagpur