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Malegaon blasts: ATS detains school principal

Source:PTI
October 31, 2008

The principal of the Bhonsala Military School in Nashik was on Friday detained by the Anti Terrorism Squad for questioning in the September 29 Malegaon blasts even as prime accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was brought to Mumbai for brain mapping and polygraph tests.

Besides the principal Shailesh Raikara, who is a former army officer, a clerk Rajan Gaidhani, was also taken into custody by the ATS and taken to Mumbai for questioning, sources said.

So far five persons -- Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Shivnarayan Singh Kalsangram, Shyam Bhawarlal Sahu, retired major Ramesh Shivji Upadhyay and Sameer Kulkarni -- have been arrested in the Malegaon blasts in which five persons were killed.

In Mumbai, Forensic Science Laboratory Director Rukmani Krishnamurthy said Pragya will undergo brain mapping, polygraph and lie detector tests at the Centre's facility in suburban Santa Cruz.

The Nashik court had permitted the ATS to conduct these psychological tests on the sadhvi.

The BMS, meanwhile, said no meeting had taken place in the institution among retired major Ramesh Shivji Upadhyay, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and a serving lieutanant colonel, who have been interrogated in connection with the Malegaon blasts.

"As per our information, no such meeting took place in our school among the trio and our name is unneccessarily being dragged into the case," Diwakar Kulkarni, divisional secretary, Hindu Madhyavarty Sainiki Shikshan Sanstha, which runs the BMS, said.

"This is an attempt to malign the image of our 70-year-old institution," Kulkarni said.

Meanwhile, Pragya's brother-in-law Bhagwan Jha has alleged that ATS officials physically tortured her and is planning to approach the State Human Rights Commission in this regard.

Source: PTI
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