UP cops give clean chit to BJP MP

The needle of suspicion might be widely pointed at a prominent Uttar Pradesh Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) MP for his alleged links with key Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, but the state's top cops have ruled it out .

Whether it is a part of a larger political strategy to keep the BJP in good humour is not known, but top policemen of Uttar Pradesh have given a clean chit to Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath who is known for his hardline Hindutva approach.

UP additional director general of police (law and order) Brij Lal flatly denied even suspected involvement of any prominent person from Uttar Pradesh in the blasts that rocked Malegaon in September last.

"In fact, the Maharastra police have not sought any information from us in connection with the Malegaon blasts so far," he asserted .

Lal also bunked reports alleging non-cooperation to the Maharastra cops by the UP administration against Adityanath ,because UP chief minister Mayawati wanted to keep her doors open for a subsequent alliance with the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) .

Reacting to media reports on the issue , a senior official of UP's Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) told this scribe here Tuesday , "I think all these reports are baseless as we have not received any such query from our counterparts in Maharashtra with respect to the Malegaon blasts.

While declining to divulge the name of a UP politician, who was allegedly in constant touch with the Malegaon accused , the official went on to add, "Well, we may have received certain queries from the Maharastra ATS but there was none so far in connection with any prominent politician's suspected involvement in the blast."

On being contacted ,Yogi Adityanath flatly denied having anything to do with Malegaon mastermind Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur or her protégé Lt. Col Srikant Purohit . "I have never met Sadhvi Pragya, but I have all regard for her as a Hindu saint who was being maligned as a part of a conspiracy hatched by the Congress party", he told this scribe over telephone from his well- known Gorakhshnath Temple spread over a sprawling private estate in Gorakhpur, about 275 Km from here.

Terming the police action against Sadhvi as "baseless", he said, " Sadhvi Pragya has been framed on trumped up charges."

Asked if the Maharastra ATS got in touch with him in that regard, Adityanath shot back, "Well so far they have not , but I have nothing to fear from them ," virtually daring the Maharastra ATS , he went on to add sarcastically, "I would suggest that they should bring with them their masterminds -- the Maharastra home minister R.R.Patil and Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil too .I can assure you they will be accorded a befitting welcome."

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