Malegaon blast: Court extends custody of Manohar Singh

Mumbai: A special National Investigation Agency court in Mumbai today extended the custody of Manohar Singh, a prime accused in the 2006 Malegaon blast, till 16 January. NIA, seeking extension of his custody, had said he was one of the planters of the explosives and a key conspirator. [caption id=“attachment_582889” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] Singh was arrested on 29 December last year by NIA from Hathod area of Indore in Madhya Pradesh. NIA claimed he has confessed to his role in the blast. The multiple bomb explosions in Malegaon, a communally sensitive powerloom town in Nashik district, about 200 km from here, on September 8, 2006 killed 37 people and injured over 100. After the explosion, Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested nine persons but all of them got bail last November. CBI had endorsed ATS’s findings but NIA, which later took over the case, told the court that confession of Swami Aseemanand, arrested in connection with 2007 blast at Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid, instead pointed to the involvement of a Hindu right-wing group in the Malegaon blast too. Another blast had taken place at Malegaon in 2008, for which Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and former army officer Srikant Purohit, among others, were arrested. PTI