Asked if the state government’s decision violated the code of conduct, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) A P Sinha said: “We have issued the orders more than a week back. It is for the agency to decide now.” He refused to comment on why the CBI had still not taken over the investigations. While CBI spokesperson G Mohanty was unavailable for comment, a senior official of the CBI Special Task Force said the agency was seeking legal advice on the issue.

“The election code of conduct is in force and the government cannot issue any such order now. We are seeking legal opinion whether the order issued by the government is valid and will it be legal for us to take over the investigations? We will then issue a notification and submit it before the court through our prosecutor,” the official said. Meanwhile, the ATS said it had completed its investigations and filed a chargesheet, and it is for the CBI to do its job now.

On December 21 last year, the state had announced transferring of investigations to the CBI after strong protests from the residents of Malegaon on the arrests made by the ATS. The ATS had contended that the nine arrested accused, allegedly active members of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), had hatched and executed the conspiracy with the help of two Pakistanis in the textile town to “infuriate the entire Muslim community and trigger communal riots’’.

Thirty-one people had died and 312 injured in four blasts, of which three were inside the Hamidiya Masjid and Bara Kabrastan. The fourth was at Mushawart Chowk.