Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Thursday ruled out any move to immediately hand over the probe into 2010 Pune’s German Bakery blast case to the NIA, saying there was no need for a re-investigation at the moment.
“No, we do not have any such plan. There is no need,” he said when asked whether there is any possibility of ordering a fresh probe into the case by NIA.
Sources in the MHA said while there is no move to hand over the case to NIA so far, a final decision can only be taken once the interrogation of top arrested IM commander Yasin Bhatkal is complete and the NIA has firmed up the case.
A controversy has broken out after Bhatkal reportedly told his interrogators that he was not accompanied by Pune blast convict Mirza Himayat Baig in planting the bomb in the bakery but by another terrorist Qateel Siddiqui.
Baig has been awarded death sentence in connection with the blast which claimed 17 lives and left over 60 people injured. Baig was convicted for his involvement in the blast case after the Maharashtra ATS filed a charge sheet against him, saying he had accompanied Bhatkal to carry out the terror attack.
However, neither the Delhi police nor the Bengaluru police mention the presence of Baig in the blast case.
The Delhi police special cell has said Bhatkal was with Siddiqui and that it had recorded his confession. The Bangalore Police has a similar confession from Siddiqui, who was murdered in a Pune jail in June 2012.
On Monday, Maharashtra home minister R.R. Patil had, however, said that the state felt there was no need for further investigation in the case. “In a case that has been proved in court, the police and the government do not feel the need for further investigation,” Mr Patil had said.