Cops link Malegaon, Ajmer blasts

The Ajmer and Malegaon blasts seem to have been engineered by one group, say the Rajasthan police. The state’s anti-terrorism squad (ATS) officials said that Devendra Gupta, who had been arrested in the Ajmer blasts case, revealed that his organisation Abhinav Bharat Sangathan was also involved in the Malegaon incident.

The Ajmer and Malegaon blasts seem to have been engineered by one group, say the Rajasthan police.

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The state’s anti-terrorism squad (ATS) officials said that Devendra Gupta, who had been arrested in the Ajmer blasts case, revealed that his organisation Abhinav Bharat Sangathan was also involved in the Malegaon incident.

The Ajmer blasts took place at the burial-place of Khawaja Moinuddin Chisti, a 12th century Sufi saint, on October 11, 2007, killing three and injuring 15.

The Malegaon tragedy took place in the previous year.

The police say Gupta's thinking seems to have been fired by a motive of “revenge” against alleged sabotage acts by a section of the Muslim community.

Rajasthan Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal said on Friday that Gupta was an active member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and worked for some other organisations propagating the militant Hindutva cause.

Rajasthan ATS chief Kapil Garg refused to comment on the issue.

He said that this was not an opportune time to divulge more details as investigation was going on.