‘Never conspired to kill Bhagwat’

Addressing newspersons,Abhinav Bharat spokesperson Milind Joshirao said Congress and NCP members make such ‘false statements’ whenever the court hearing on the bail application of the Malegaon blast suspects is about to be held.

“The court has dropped the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act case against Lt Col Prasad Purohit and other Abhinav Bharat members arrested in connection with the Malegaon blast. But they have not got bail yet and the hearing on the bail plea is on April 12. So,to create hurdles,the NCP MLA has made baseless statements,” he said. Joshirao said Purohit had gathered information that gangster Dawood Ibrahim was in Malegaon on June 7,2005. “The information was passed on to the state government. But the government failed to trace Ibrahim,” he said. “Purohit has received gallantry awards. He had gathered critical information about anti-national activities while working with the military intelligence department,” he said.

Himani Savarkar,president of Abhinav Bharat,said the outfit has ‘utmost respect for the RSS and its chief Bhagwat. “Just to create a controversy,aimed at gaining votes in the Aurangabad and Navi Mumbai civic polls,the NCP MLA has purposely made false statements,” she said. Hemant Shinde of Sanatan Sanstha said that if Avhad or the government has any evidence about the Sanstha’s links with ISI,they should produce it or publicly apologise for making bogus statements.