VZCZCXRO9786
RR RUEHBI RUEHCI
DE RUEHBI #0518/01 3050811
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 310811Z OCT 08
FM AMCONSUL MUMBAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6692
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 7929
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 1709
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 1916
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 1851

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MUMBAI 000518 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM KIRF IN ASEC PTER PGOV
SUBJECT: WEB OF SUSPECTED TERRORISTS IN MALAGAON BOMBING COVERS THREE 
STATES AND IMPLICATES HINDU NATIONALIST GROUPS 
 
REF: 08 Mumbai 120, 360, 364, 365, 405, 447 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Maharashtra State Police Anti-Terrorism 
Squad arrested five people and charged them with murder and 
other related crimes in connection with the 2008 bombings in 
Malegaon, Maharashtra that killed six and wounded 89 others. The 
accused were picked up in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and in 
Maharashtra. Those arrested were identified as having ties to 
the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) youth wing in their earlier 
years, and two had ties to a recent addition to the Sangh 
Parivar family of Hindu nationalist organizations. The 2008 
Malegaon blasts were distinguished from others attributed to 
Islamic terrorist organizations by their lack of sophistication 
and the use of military grade RDX explosives. This incident of 
suspected Hindu terrorism is causing headaches for the 
Hindu-nationalist, Bharatiya Janata Party in its election 
campaign in Madhya Pradesh where combating terrorism is one of 
its major campaign platforms. Overall, police are concerned 
about rising Hindu extremism, the improvement in Hindu radicals' 
bomb-making ability, and the connection of former military 
officers to the Malegaon blasts. End Summary 
 
 
 
¶2.         (U) From October 24 to 28 Mumbai's Anti-Terrorist 
Squad (ATS) arrested suspects in the September 2008 bombings in 
Malegaon, Maharashtra and Modasa, Gujarat who have ties to 
several Hindu extremist groups.  Retired Army Major Ramesh 
Upadhyay, from Pune, Maharashtra, and Sameer Kulkarni, from 
Madhya Pradesh, were arrested October 28 in connection with the 
recent Malegaon bombings that killed six and wounded 89 others. 
They were charged with murder and attempted murder.  Both are 
members of Abhinav Bharat, a militant Hindu group which 
advocates retaliatory terrorism against minority groups. The 
group's website, which advocated abandoning the Hindu principle 
of tolerance, "sahishnuwad" in favor of a proactive and 
aggressive Hindu nationalism, shut down on October 26 after 
Upadhyay and Kulkarni were detained for questioning. Kulkarni 
was arrested in Madhya Pradesh, in a house formerly occupied by 
sadhvi (ascetic) Pragya Singh Thakur, who was earlier arrested 
in Surat, Gujarat, in relation to the same Malegaon bombings. 
Thakur is said to have played a "key role" in the blasts; 
reports detailing the investigation indicate that the ATS traced 
the motorbike used in the Malagaon blasts to Thakur. Others 
arrested last week in relation to the Malegaon bombings include 
Shivnarain Kalsaangra, from Surat, Gujarat and Shyam Sahu, from 
Indore, Madhya Pradesh. 
 
 
 
¶3.         (U) Those arrested, now in their late 30s and early 
40s reportedly were members of the BJP youth wing Akhil 
Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in their earlier years and 
formed the organization Rashtriya Jagaran Manch in July of this 
year after Hindu-Muslim riots in Madhya Pradesh. Milind Marathe, 
national deputy president of ABVP denies any connection between 
Thakur and his organization. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), 
another part of the Hindu nationalist family of organizations, 
claims that it has no links with the accused.  Thakur was also 
rumored to be a former member of the Durga Vahini, the women's 
wing of the VHP. A court in Nashik authorized brain-mapping, 
narco-analysis and polygraph testing on Thakur. 
 
 
 
Comparison to the other recent blasts attributed to Muslim 
radicals 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
-------- 
 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU) According to media reports, the improvised explosive 
devices used in the Malegaon and Modasa blasts this year were of 
a crude design, signaling investigators that this was not the 
work of Islamic extremist groups like the Student  Islamic 
Movement of India  (SIMI) or the more recent Indian Muhajadeen. 
Investigators believe that bombs tied to those groups have been 
technically sophisticated.  Bomb blasts in Ahmadabad in July and 
Delhi in September and bomb material seized in Surat all used 
multiple improvised explosive devices of the same basic design. 
(Ammonium Nitrate was the primary explosive in the Ahmadabad, 
Surat, and Delhi devices.)  Both the Malegoan and Modasa 
bombings were single IED attacks versus the hallmark multiple 
IED attacks launched this past summer.  The device used in the 
2008 Malegaon bombing utilized military grade RDX which may have 
been stolen from the Indian Army.  The main charge for the IED 
used in the Modasa blast consisted of gunpowder, suggesting that 
 
MUMBAI 00000518  002 OF 003 
 
 
bombs used in the Malegaon and Modasa attacks did not have a 
common bomb maker or designer.  The use of military grade 
explosives in the Malegaon blasts clued investigators to look 
for existing military ties to the recent bombings. 
 
 
 
¶6.         (U) The arrest of Hindu extremists comes as a relief 
to some local Muslims who have felt that the police often arrest 
Muslim youth without cause in bombing cases.  Abu Asim Azimi, 
chief of the Maharashtra Samajwadi Party office said that 
"Whenever bomb blasts take place, Muslims and particularly 
youths are picked up~many innocents are booked for no fault of 
theirs. Police have ruined the lives of well-educated Muslim 
youth."  An editorial in the right-of-center Urdu daily Inquilab 
in Mumbai called for a "high level enquiry committee to 
investigate into all bomb blasts throughout the length and 
breadth of India." Editorials in Marathi press Sakaal and Lokmat 
decried the alleged involvement of Hindu organizations as 
"shocking", saying "this is certainly bad news. It indicates the 
level of insecurity in a society scarred by terrorism. 
Terrorist outfits, Hindu or Muslim, are doing no good to anyone." 
 
 
 
Hindu extremists' bomb-making improves 
 
------------------------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶7.         (SBU) This is not the first incident in which Hindu 
extremists are accused of making bombs.  In June of this year, 
extremists bombed a theater in Thane, outside of Mumbai, for 
featuring a play unflattering to Hindus.  Little damage was done 
in that blast and Bal Thackeray, the fiery leader of the Shiv 
Sena party called on Hindus "to make better bombs" if they were 
to battle Muslims. (See reftel)  In August, two former workers 
of the Hindu chauvinist group Bajrang Dal died in Kaunpur, Uttar 
Pradesh, allegedly when they were experimenting with explosives. 
The explosive devices used in the 2008 Malegaon blast were more 
sophisticated than those used in the blast in Thane, early this 
year, according to RSO sources. 
 
 
 
Impact of involvement of ex-military 
 
------------------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶8.         (SBU) The use of military grade RDX in the recent 
Malegaon bombings led ATS investigators to question military 
ties to the attacks.  Media reports indicate that ATS is 
investigating links between the suspects and Bhonsala Military 
School which the Hindu extremist group Bajrang Dal had used for 
a training camp earlier this year to instill military culture in 
their members. Retired major Upadhyay purportedly taught at the 
school. Retired Major Prabhakar Kulkarni, commandant of the 
school, and former Major Y. D. Sahasrabuddhe, a teacher at the 
school, were also questioned in connection with the bombings, 
but only Major Upadhyay was charged. The police are also 
questioning an active army officer, Lt Colonel Prasad Purohit, 
with the cooperation of the Indian Army.  Police claim to have 
evidence of phone conversations between Purohit and Upadhyay and 
Thakur. 
 
 
 
¶9.         (SBU)  Comment:  The prospect of various right-wing 
Hindu groups being identified with terrorism is giving the 
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh 
indigestion, as the party's theme in the state assembly 
elections next month of fighting terrorism may come back to bite 
its supporters. To keep a consistent mantra, the BJP has come 
out to condemn all acts of terrorism.  Uma Bharati, former Chief 
Minister under the BJP in Madhya Pradesh and now one of its 
rivals, lambasted the BJP for "disowning" the sadhvi, Thakur, as 
BJP tried to distance itself from the violence.  Bharati has 
offered Thakur a seat to run against the BJP in the Madhya 
Pradesh elections in November.  After Bharati's criticism, the 
BJP later came out in favor of the sadhvi, arguing that she is 
innocent of the charges. While in the past, communal violence 
has resulted in the favoring of the BJP at the polls, having 
terrorists affiliated with the BJP's allies in the Sangh Parivar 
family of Hindu groups, may backfire with the general 
electorate. 
 
MUMBAI 00000518  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
 
 
¶10.       (SBU) The rising sophistication of Hindu-made bombs, 
and the military's lack of control over its explosives are 
causing concern among police. Director General of Police for 
Maharashtra, A.N. Roy recently told CG Folmsbee that he is 
concerned about the increasing level of violence carried out by 
Hindu extremists. End Comment. 
FOLMSBEE