Malegaon man ran into ‘bomber’ before blasts; soon he was dead

Singh is learnt to have told interrogators that once the decision was made to kill Azhar, he was not told much. He has said he did not participate in the killing, but had received confirmation of the incident from his associates.

Azhar's family continues to pick up the pieces of the tragedies of 2006. Azhar's daughter was recently married. The son for whom he wanted the bicycle dickey is called Wasiullah. He is now 16, and unwilling to talk about his father's death. "Mere ko yaad nahin hai. Main us waqt bahut chhota tha (I don't remember. I was very young then)," Wasiullah said. Asked if he has a bicycle, Wasiullah said, "I have a motorcycle".

The NIA is crosschecking Dhan Singh's story, and has contacted Malegaon police for details of Azhar's alleged suicide. "The NIA has got in touch with us and we are providing all assistance. But I have to first study the file on the suicide case," Malegaon additional superintendent of police Sunil Kadasane said.

Reached for a comment, the general secretary of Jamaat-e-Ulema at Malegaon, Abdul Qayyum Kasim, told The Indian Express, "I am away, busy holding talks to calm the riots situation in (nearby) Dhule."

A maulana of the Kul-Jamaati Tanzim, set up after the 2006 bombings, asked The Indian Express not to report the story for a fortnight. "We will take a decision and give our version only after 15 days," Maulana Abdul Hameed Azhari said.

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