New Delhi, Nov 12 (IANS) Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Abu Azmi on Wednesday kicked up a major political row by drawing parallels between the Delhi blasts probe and the Mumbai train blasts 2006 case and also urged the government to refrain from making any wrongful arrests for hiding its own failure.

Speaking to mediapersons, the SP leader demanded that the culprits behind the dreaded Delhi blasts must be brought to book and executed within six months but the Centre must not make ‘random and wrongful’ arrests to cover up for the security lapse that led to such bombing in the national Capital.

BJP was quick to respond to Abu Azmi’s claims, accusing the SP leader of defending the terrorists by taking their side.

BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said that the SP leader was backing Umar, Muzammil, Shaheen — the three accused who are under investigation for terror links to the Delhi blasts.

“This is the same Samajwadi Party that once moved to withdraw cases against terrorists,” he said and added that soon the ‘ecosystem’ will come forward to defend and justify his claims.

Earlier, Abu Azmi speaking to reporters trained guns on the Maharashtra government over zero conviction in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts and said that innocents must not be targeted in Delhi blasts probe.

“Putting anyone behind bars on suspicion is a great injustice to the innocent people and this shows inefficiency and ineptitude of the officials,” he said.

Seeking swift justice in the Delhi blasts probe, he said, “They should be prosecuted and sent to gallows within six months but the innocent should not be arrested. In Mumbai train blasts, which resulted in 187 deaths, there has been zero conviction and none were held guilty. The police arrested some suspects and kept them languishing in jail for 19 years but the High Court didn’t find them guilty. The case against those jailed accused didn’t hold water and they were therefore set free.”

Abu Azmi’s remarks come close on the heels of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s clear instructions to the investigative agencies to ‘hunt down’ everyone involved in the blasts.

The BJP has responded strongly to Abu Azmi’s claims and accused him of ‘standing by’ the perpetrators of terror.

BJP leader Rajeev Chandrashekhar, seeing a motive in Abu Azmi’s remarks, said that Delhi witnessed an act of terror, but some parties constantly pander to the radical elements, and this only emboldens extremism and radicalism in the country.

–IANS

mr/rad