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Probe reveals Hindu terror cell

Nun, monk, army officer held over deadly blast

By Shaikh Azizur Rahman THE WASHINGTON TIMES | Friday, November 21, 2008

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CALCUTTA

Indian police have arrested nine people, including an army lieutenant colonel, a Hindu nun and a monk who heads a monastery, in connection with a bomb blast in a Muslim market during the holy month of Ramadan.

The investigation marks the first official confirmation of a Hindu terrorist cell in the nation of more than 1 billion where minority Muslims have been accused of orchestrating dozens of bombings in recent years.

"The Indian army's prestige has been hurt," said Lt. Gen. S.P.S. Dhillon, deputy chief of the Indian army staff.

When a bomb attached to a motorcycle killed seven people in the textile town of Malegaon in western India on Sept. 29, Muslims were initially suspected.

The motorcycle had sticker with the number 786, which can be interpreted as meaning, "In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful," a salutation that begins chapters in the Koran.

The police Anti-Terrorism Squad in the western state of Maharashtra discovered that the bike was owned by Sadhwi Prajna Singh Thakur, a Hindu nun and a former leader of the student wing of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Over the past month, the squad has arrested 10 Hindu activists, including the 37-year-old nun, and Lt. Col. Shrikant Prasad Purohit, who served in military engineering and intelligence departments.

Others arrested included Dayanand Pandey, the chief monk of a Hindu monastery in northern India. The police squad said Mr. Pandey, a former Indian Air Force officer, was the mastermind of Malegaon blast.

Analysts said the arrests of Hindu activists and leaders for purported involvement in terrorist activities could embarrass the BJP -- the largest national opposition party that has blamed ruling Congress party for being "soft" on terrorism.