31 dead, two investigations, and seven men who vanished into thin air
Nearly two decades after four coordinated blasts ripped through Malegaon on a Friday afternoon in September 2006, killing 31 people and injuring over 300, the case stands in a peculiar limbo. Two separate investigations, carried out years apart, named two entirely different sets of accused. Today, 13 of those accused across both groups have been discharged. No one remains to face trial. And yet, the case is far from closed.
Seven men named across the two investigations have, over the years, vanished without a trace. Despite the involvement of the country’s top investigative agencies, their whereabouts remain unknown, leaving behind unanswered questions and grieving families.
The ATS and CBI Probe: Four Men Who Disappeared
The blasts took place on September 8, 2006. Three explosions struck the premises of Hamidia Masjid and Bada Kabrastan moments after Friday prayers, while a fourth detonated at Mushawarat Chowk nearby.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which first investigated the case, arrested nine men and accused a total of 13 individuals of being part of a conspiracy that, according to investigators, had taken shape months earlier at a wedding gathering. But even as arrests were made, four men named in the chargesheet were never found.
One of them, Muzammil, was identified as a Pakistani national. The other three — Munawwar Ahmed, Riyaz Ahmed Shafi Ahmed, and Ishtiyaq Ahmed Mohammed Isaaq, all residents of Malegaon — disappeared in October 2006, barely a month after the blasts.
Munawwar, then 36, was described in the chargesheet as a key conspirator who allegedly directed that the blasts be carried out at the mosque and cemetery complex. Riyaz was accused of placing an improvised explosive device at one of the sites, while Ishtiyaq was named as part of the wider conspiracy.
Munawwar’s father, Mohammed Amin, now in his seventies, lives in a tin-sheet structure on the outskirts of Malegaon. A former muezzin, he has spent years without closure on his son’s whereabouts. “People say losing a child is the greatest pain. For us, it is worse — we do not even know if our son is alive or dead,” he said in an earlier interview.
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Riyaz’s family points to a troubling contradiction. Known to have been under police surveillance due to alleged SIMI links, he was frequently called in for questioning. “For someone who was under constant surveillance, it is surprising that he was made an accused in the first place. The bigger surprise is how he was allowed to disappear despite being watched. Either the system failed completely, or there is something we are not being told.” Little is known about Ishtiyaq’s family.
The NIA Probe: Three More Who Cannot Be Found
Years after the ATS wrapped up its investigation, the case took a dramatic turn. The National Investigation Agency, which took over in 2011, filed a chargesheet in 2013 pointing at an entirely different set of accused — this time linking the blasts to a right-wing extremist network. The NIA simultaneously dropped the original accused from its chargesheet, declaring the earlier nine men innocent.
Among those newly named were Ramchandra (Ramji) Kalsangra, Sandeep Dange, and Ramesh Mahalkar — three men who, like their counterparts in the earlier probe, could not be traced.
According to the NIA chargesheet, Kalsangra was accused of planting the bomb, Dange of guiding the operation, and Mahalkar of assembling the explosives in Indore.
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Kalsangra, an electrical contractor from Indore, led what appeared to be a modest and stable life before his sudden disappearance around 2008. Living with his family in the city’s Bengali Colony, he left home one day for work and never returned. His name later surfaced prominently in investigations after statements by Swami Aseemanand linked him to a wider network. Authorities announced a cash reward for information on him, but he has remained untraceable. He is survived by his wife, Lakshmi Devi, and their three sons.
Sandeep Dange, also from Indore, trained as an electrical engineer and was associated with right-wing organisations. His father, a retired employee of the state education department in Madhya Pradesh, has largely withdrawn from public life following the allegations. Ramesh Mahalkar, a resident of Nanded, remains the least documented of the three.
All three have been named in multiple blast cases across the country and continue to feature on the NIA’s list of most wanted accused, including in the Samjhauta Express blast case.
In 2009, suspended Maharashtra Assistant Police Inspector Mehboob Mujawar, in an affidavit before a Solapur court, claimed that Kalsangra and Dange had died in the custody of the Maharashtra ATS, and that their bodies were disposed of as victims of the November 2008 terror attacks. The allegation has never been officially substantiated.
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No Accused, No Answers
The seven missing men are the last loose thread in a case that has otherwise wound down without resolution. The nine men arrested by the ATS were discharged in 2016. The four men charged by the NIA had their charges quashed by the Bombay High Court this week.
