With the Bombay high court deciding to book Malegaon blast accused under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), investigating agencies, including Rajasthan ATS, which are probing Ajmer, Mecca Masjid and Malegaon blasts, are likely to probe the connections of Swami Dayanand Pandey, alleged co-conspirator in Malegaon blast, with his large number of sympathisers based in the PoK.
Sources said that agencies had also initiated probe into the funding for his ashram, located in Jammu, Faridabad and other places in the country. According to sources, Dayanand Pandey, alias Swami Amritanand Dev, moved to Jammu in 2003 and his ashram was located close to the cantonment area, sources added.
“Swami Dayanand reportedly met Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit, prime accused in the Malegaon blast, in Jammu in 2003. Swami Dayanand, who used to move around Jammu under police escort, had been regularly visiting Kashmiri Pandit camps — the Sharda Peeth shrine in the PoK. During the Jammu agitation over the Amarnath shrine land controversy, he played an important role,” sources said. He reportedly changed his name from Sudhakar Dwivedi to Dayanand Pandey when he moved to Jammu, sources said.
Probing agencies want to know who were the people with whom Pandey used to meet in the PoK. The network of his followers as well as fundings to his ashrams located in J&K and other places are being probed, sources added.
“If required, Jammu based charted accountant of Swami Dayanand’s trust may be questioned by the investigating agencies. The CA had reportedly came in contact with Swami Dayanand at the residence of a leader belonging to a political party in Jammu during 2003,” sources added. The CA used to file the annual returns of the trust with the Income-Tax department in Jammu.
Besides, agencies may question certain people of the Zeethyar temple, located near Dal Lake in the state. Swami Dayanand used to visit Srinagar and stay at the Zeethyar temple, sources said.