The Gujarat Police, who had earlier given a clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, wants to re-investigate her possible role as well as that of the nine others arrested with her in the bomb blast in Modasa town on September 29, the same day as the Malegaon blasts.

But a Nashik court rejected the plea on Monday saying there is no provision in law to allow them to interrogate the accused in prison, where eight of the 10 are in judicial custody, and asked the police to follow procedure and seek their custody for questioning. It also extended the judicial custody of the eight to November 29.

A Gujarat Police team headed by Dy SP K K Mysorewala, who had himself given a clean chit to Pragya after preliminary investigations in co-ordination with the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), was in Nashik on Monday saying they wanted to question the suspects as they now feel they might get vital leads in the case.

“We believe that the Modasa and the Malegaon blast which happened on September 29 had similarities,” Mysorewala told The Indian Express, pointing out that motorcycles were used to plant bombs in both places.

The blast in Modasa, in Sabarkantha district, killed two people and injured eight. Although there were no traces of RDX in the explosives used there, the Gujarat Police hope to find leads by questioning the Malegaon suspects.

Earlier, when the Maharashtra ATS made a breakthrough in the Malegaon case, it had also linked the two blasts and said the same suspects were probably responsible for both. However, the probe subsequently focused solely on Malegaon and no explanations were given.

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