Malegaon blast: CBI to quiz Dayanand Pandey

Two months after the Central Bureau of Investigation decided to "reopen and reinvestigate" the 2006 Malegaon blast case, the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court on Monday granted permission to the agency to interrogate Dayanand Pandey, an accused in the 2008 Malegoan blast.

Fourty-one-year-old Pandey alias Sudhakar Udhayban Dwivedi alias Swami Amritanand Dev was arrested on November 12, 2008 and is accused of criminal conspiracy, participating meetings and of having asked another accused Lt Col Prasad Purohit to arrange for RDX for the blast. The CBI had sought to reinvestigate the 2006 Malegaon blast case in the wake of Swami Aseemanand's confession.

Aseemanand, who was arrested in November last year for his alleged role in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blasts, in his confession recorded before the magistrate in January, had said that a right-wing group was responsible for the Malegoan 2006 blasts.

The Anti-Terrorism Squad of the Maharashtra police, which had earlier investigated the case had arrested nine persons -- Salman Farsi, Shabir Ahmed, Noorulhuda Doha, Rais Ahmed, Mohammed Ali, Asif Khan, Javed Sheikh, Dr Faroogue Ansari and Abrar Ahmed -- for their alleged involvement in the blast.

The blasts took place near the Hamidia Mosque in the Bada Kabristanat on September 8, 2006, killing 37 people and injuring over 100.