 On 10 September, police sources said that the methods used are similar to attacks on mosques earlier in 2006 for which 16 Bajrang Dal activists, allegedly part of a "fringe group" of the organization, were arrested but not charged.Accused were Pragya Thakur and Abhinav Bharat.Malegaon has been the focus of communal tension for some time, which spilled out into the open in 1984, 1992, and 2001, when there were large scale protests over the United States invasion of Afghanistan.