Malegaon bomb blasts of 2006 and 2008, a reflelction (6)

Chapter: Case studies (1) Praveen Togadia

The principal characters in the tragedy of terrorism post-Babri era or better 21st century are not Dawood Ibrahim or Nasir Madni but Praveen Togadia and his ilk like Swami Dyanand Pande, Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit.

Togadia is the international president of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and thus has access to fabulous amount of money to not only cause terrific events but has the clout to deter arrest. His involvement in the bomb blasts is so enormous that he should have been behind bars but such is the torpid law and order situation in the country that even the Prime Minister of India cannot dream of it. Intelligence Bureau and the National Security Advisor must have stopped the investigation in terrorism events from going to their logical conclusion when Togadia was likely to be handcuffed. His take-on stance vis-à-vis Muslims and other minorities sends chill of apprehension down the spinal cord of the governments. Through funds collected abroad and routed through Sonal Shah and others he is in a position to finance pogroms of which even the Nazis would go agog. It was not Purohit who stole RDX from the army all by himself. It must have been Togadia whom the rabid elements in the army would be willing to genuflect as many in the army of Shah of Iran did to the ayatollah Khomeni.

Purohit himself acknowledges Togadia’s supremacy when he reportedly told investigators “Praveen Togadia was responsible for the Samjhauta Express blasts. He asked me to find out from Dr Dev, how much RDX was remaining after the blast.” (Pune Mirror, November 19, 2008) Prof Dev and Prof Sharad Kunte are from Nowrosjee Wadia college in Pune. They gave training in bomb making and arms to those whom Purohit also trained along with retired IB officers. The police have not arrested them either, one of them, Kunte, had been president of VHP of Pune.

Togadia is based in Gujarat, the richest state in India, a state which had used its power to carry out the pogroms of Muslims in 2002 and whose chief minister has gifted huge amount of money to Swami Asimanand also based and harboured there.

As all these matters are sub judice and the courts are in a better position to judge but facts remain potentially relevant to the ordinary man in the street. Togadia et al are high stature men of today and have been tangentially connected to the two incidents of bomb blasts in Malegaon of 2006 and 2008. Thanks to their money power they could have used some Muslim youths who might not have fully grasped the enormity of the crimes they were implicated in. They had played into the hands of the Greek tragic heroes of India’s modern drama of terrorism.

The elusive Mithun Chakarborty of bomb blasts in Maharashtra could ultimately be Praveen Togadia who has the traits of his cinematic counterpart of beating to pulp his enemies even after they are finished.


Case studies: (2) Dr Farogh Makhdumi
Sometimes the police come out candid due to the bothersome task of dehumanizing the accused innocents. As they are also human beings they may feel it is awesomely difficult stretch their victims indefinitely on the medieval rack. How long can the human spirit cope with the accused with wrists and ankles tightly locked and joints excruciatingly stretched or increasing of doses of water adding to the suffocation of the hapless tied on the reclining table in water boarding!
Somewhere the human in the police uniform asserts himself and lays aside the enforce personae of the cop. That is what must have been the case with the police men interrogating Dr Farogh Makhdumi. They told him as they failed to extract what lies they were told to extract. “We know that you are innocent. You don’t know anything about the bomb explosions. Even your narco test is clear about this. But we are ordered to arrest such Muslims who are educated, who talk about the progress of their community, who follow the Quan and offer namaz and practice hadish. We are ordered to arrest Muslims to please the Hindus and incite the Muslims against the government. (Italics added for emphasis).” ( Malegaon bomb dhamakon ki janch men CBI ki sust raftari, Urdu Times, August 25, 2008)
Blaming the police for all the wrongs in the society has a break here. What the police told the doctor is certainly a chink in the amour that does not pose a danger to the country but it is a ray of hope of saving the country. Those italicized words hold the brief not of the country but the odious ideology of the Hindutva which has spread its tentacles in all the organs of the government.
Muslims in the mainland India cannot be incited to rise against the government. To expect anyone to do so is sheer stupidity like the expectation of any section of Muslims dreaming that khilafat can be ever established of all places in the world, in India! Regarding pleasing the Hindus, it is a viable proposition since there are Hindu parties like Shiv Sena and BJP who survive on communalism and riots. The whole farce at Mohammadiya mosque was carefully choreographed to produce a riot which thanks to the forbearance of the people did not happen. They did not rise to the bait.
If Farogh feels that the 2006 bomb blasts and the unexploded bombs at Mohammadiya mosque on September 13 could be the work of extremist Hindus, it is worth noting that the police had not made any headway in the case and yet the Additional Commissioner of Police, ATS, Subodh Jaiswal, asserted as if he was cocksure: 'The aim was to unleash panic.’ 'They were planted by the same terror outfit that triggered the Friday blasts.' The planters wanted to create anger against the Hindus and the police and incite the Muslim to violence according to Jaiswal. From a distance in time it looks that Jaiswal was right indeed at hinting the motive but he was wrong in attributing it to the jihadists. In this case the jihadists were from the Hindutva group to which Naresh Rajkondwar and Himanshu Phanse belonged, Bajrang Dal.
Farogh’s contention against the police (SP Rajwadhan) lends further credence in what the SP asserted on September 16:'There seems to be a deliberate attempt in a section of the media to pressurise the police into taking a line of investigation — of Hindu fanatics being involved — but we will go by the ground reality and the rule book, and explore all the possibilities.' 'But it seems to be the handwork of organised terrorists who want to destabilise the country and incite communal violence.' Farogh, leave alone whether he is a member of SIMI or not, is more truly devout Indian than many others. For he felt the truth and its exposure would be in the larger interest of the country. Precisely this was the robust sense the police men also had when they unknowingly gave away in what they told him that they were asked to arrest Muslims to please Hindus and incite Muslims to violence against the Hindus and the government.
But the home minister RR Patil under whom the police work did not have this horse sense when he said that the police were not at the scene because Shab-e-barat prayers begin after evening prayers and so no bandobast was made! Where do you find, to use a local phrase, a speck in the beard of the thief?