Updated on Saturday, November 15, 2008, 00:00 IST

Chandigarh, Nov 15: Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Saturday said the case should not be linked to any particular religion. His statement comes in tha wake of the charges levelled by BJP and RSS that Hindu religious heads are being targeted in Malegaon blast probe.

"Whether it is Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism or Buddhism, they all teach us how to love each other and to respect each other. If somebody is doing this (linking religion with Malegaon), I would request him and you (media) not to project this matter as something which belongs to a religion," he told reporters in Chandigarh.

Patil, who addressed Congress workers at the party office, said the Malegaon incident had happened due to the "wrong thinking" of a section of people.

Asked if investigations in the September 29 Malegaon incident that killed six people were on the right track, Patil said, "I cannot give a judgement standing here without going through the papers. I will leave the issue to the investigating officers to present the case to the court and get a proper judgement".

He parried questions on Haryana Railway police trying to question Malegaon blast suspects Lt Colonel Shrikant Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Thakur in connection with February 2007 blasts on Samjhauta express train that killed 68 persons.

"I don't have all the details with me, I am not an Investigating Officer," Patil said.

"If something has been done, it will be explained to you (media) after the investigation is completed and not before that".

Asked about the law and order situation in the country, Patil said, "it is very good". The minister said during the tenure of the Congress led UPA government "there have been 24,000 incidents of terrorism as against 36,000 during NDA rule".

"During UPA's time the casualty figure is 6,000 against 11,000 during NDA time," Patil said, adding "from this, you can guess that the situation has improved and not worsened."

Bureau Report