Malegaon case: Release the right wing accused also, says RSS

A day after seven accused in the Malegaon blasts were released on bail, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangha on Thursday demanded similar relief to other right wing accused who have been lodged in jail.

"The National Investigation Agency should apply the same yardstick to other accused in the Malegaon and Ajmer blasts' cases," RSS leader Ram Madhav told PTI.

He contended that in March this year, the NIA had opposed the bail plea of these seven accused.  "What has changed on the ground that they have not opposed the bail pleas now? We think that this has been done due to political considerations," he said.

The seven accused in the Malegaon blasts were released on bail on Wednesday, five years after their arrest in the case, the probe into which took a new turn after names of right-wing groups figured in other blasts.

Madhav said the accused Hindu youths should also be released immediately as they were behind bars with "unproven charges" in terror cases.

"The logic of the agency which investigated the 2006 case should be applied to 2007 and 2008 terror cases in which some Hindu youths were arrested with no proven charges and no evidence," he said.

He went on to add that the charges against the seven accused Muslims were very much there as they have not been acquitted.

Madhav accused the National Minorities Commission of "strongly lobbying" with the NIA for not opposing their bail pleas.