SIT Denies Report Linking Pragya, Gauri Lankesh & ‘Bomb Training’

Pragya’s co-accused in Malegaon blast have reportedly been named as bomb trainers by suspects in Gauri Lankesh case.

Pragya’s co-accused in Malegaon blast have reportedly been named as bomb trainers by suspects in Gauri Lankesh’s murder.

(Photo Altered By The Quint)

Following a report which suggested links between journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder, “secret bomb training camps,” multiple terror incidents including the Malegaon blast and its accused BJP's Bhopal Lok Sabha candidate Pragya Thakur, the Special Investigating Team (SIT) attributed in the report has denied the same.

“SIT has not found in its investigation or mentioned in the charge sheet any link to Sadhvi Pragya/ Malegaon blasts/ Abhinav Bharat. There is no shred of evidence to suggest the same. No documents purporting the same have been submitted to the Hon’ble Court,” SIT has said in an official statement.

Abhinav Bharat is a right-wing organisation which was named in the said report, that claimed the SIT has revealed the links, as a part of its investigation in Gauri Lankesh murder case.

What Was The Report About?

A report by The Indian Express suggested that the SIT probing the murder of journalist Lankesh had, in a report to a Bengaluru court, revealed the links mentioned above.

The report said that several suspects in the Lankesh case linked to right-wing organisation Sanatan Sanstha, received training in these camps from four missing members of another outfit Abhinav Bharat.

The four members of Abhinav Bharat, the report said wanted for blasts in the Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid, Ajmer Dargah and Malegaon. Two of them – Ramji Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange – have been declared “proclaimed offenders” and are co-accused with Pragya in the Malegaon case, the report added.

Report Names ‘Babaji’, ‘Guruji’, ‘Circuit Expert’

Reportedly, men linked to Sanatan Sanstha, who have been arrested in the Lankesh murder case and other attendees of the camp have said about the presence of a “Babaji” and four “Gurujis”.

The “Babaji” was identified after his arrest in November 2018 – 11 years after he went into hiding – in Gujarat as Suresh Nair, an Abhinav Bharat member accused in the 2007 Ajmer dargah blast case, according to the report.

Nair’s arrest also led to the revelation that other bomb experts at Sanstha-linked camps were Dange, Kalsangara and Ashwini Chauhan — all “proclaimed offenders” in the Samjhauta Express case and four other blast cases, said sources.

Another trainer by the name Prathap Hazra linked to yet another organisation – the West Bengal based-Bhavani Sena – has also been identified by Lankesh murder suspects.

Dange, a former RSS worker who is considered a bomb expert and has an Interpol red corner notice against him, is on the most wanted list of the NIA with Kalsangara and Chauhan, alias Amit Hakla.

Those arrested in the Lankesh case have further described the trainers at the camp as “Babaji Sir”, “Circuit Expert Sir”, “Bengali” and “Lambu Sir”.