Rajendar Chaudhary alias Pehlwan, who was arrested on 15 December for his alleged connection with the Samjhauta blasts, admitted to National Investigation Agency to have planted the bombs at a mosque in Malegaon in 2006 which left 27 people dead and more than 300 injured. He mentioned the names of three people — Dhan Singh, Ramji Kalsengra and Amit alias Ashwini Chauhan — who assisted him in this job. He also said the slain RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi and Sandeep Dange knew about the plan.
Earlier, Anti Terror Squad, in its knee-jerk reaction, put the blame on the banned students organisation Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and arrested nine Muslim youths in this case. Seven of them were given bail last year.