2008 Malegaon blasts case: No objection to granting Sadhvi Pragya bail, NIA tells Bombay HC
The agency's lawyer told a bench that the Supreme Court had dropped charges under the MCOCA Act and that witnesses in the case had retracted their statements.
The National Investigation Agency on Thursday told the Bombay High Court that it had no objection to granting bail to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in connection with the September 2008 Malegaon blasts case that left more than four people dead and several others injured, The Free Press Journal reported. This came while a division bench of the court was hearing an appeal by Thakur challenging a special NIA court’s order rejecting her bail plea.
Appearing for the agency, Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh told the bench that the agency did not have any evidence against Thakur. “The prime witnesses who had earlier deposed against her have retracted from their previous versions during our probe,” Singh said. The Supreme Court has also dropped charges against Thakur under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, Singh told the court.
However, the counsel for a blast victim’s relative challenged Thakur’s application, and said that the NIA had not conducted a thorough investigation into the case. “There are reasonable grounds to believe that accusations [against Thakur] are prima facie true...there are serious charges under [the] Unlawful Activities Prevention Act which are applicable and that point to her [Thakur’s] involvement,” BA Desai said, according to The Indian Express.
The counsel also claimed that the NIA had failed to place the transcripts of conversations between Thakur and other accused individuals in the case on record. The bench of the court directed the NIA to provide the transcripts of the conversations between Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel S Purohit. It also told the agency to provide a copy of the forensic report on the voice samples of the accused in the case.
Several people, including Thakur and Purohit were arrested in connection with the case. The police had named 14 right-wing extremists in the chargesheet.