Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and six others are almost certain to walk free in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) chargesheet, which was submitted by the agency in a special Mumbai court on Friday, dropping the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) charges against all the accused. However, Army officer Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Srikant Purohit still faces other charges that include murder and attempt to murder.
Pragya's lawyer has claimed that the case against her client was politically motivated. "We are waiting for the NIA to give us our copies of the chargesheet that has been filed. Sadhvi and my client including a couple of others are being let off. If anyone wants to challenge the judgement, they can. We must prosecute the ATS officers. This is a politically motivated case and anyone who challenges it will be an anti-national," her lawyer Sanjiv Punalekar claimed.
A witness in the case has also claimed that there was an attempt to give the investigation a political angle. The witness, Milind Joshi, alleged that a few of them gave up as they were beaten by the investigators. "Investigators gave political angle to the probe. They wanted to know whether we are affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) or not. Some witnessed gave up due to fear as they were beaten up by the officers," Joshi said.
The NIA's U-turn comes after key witnesses retracted their statements.
Now, the NIA has charged the accused under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). Charges under UAPA would mean that a lot of evidence which was admissible under MCOCA will have no value now. The chargesheet states that the statements of witnesses recorded under provisions of MCOCA have not been considered.
Twelve persons, including the Sadhvi and Purohit, were arrested for carrying out a blast at Malegaon, a predominantly Muslim town in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008, killing four persons and injuring 79.
The Malegaon blasts case was investigated by two teams of the NIA. The first team was led by IG Sanjeev Singh and the second team was led by IG GP Singh. The team led by Sanjeev Singh was on the verge of filing the chargesheet when the NDA government came to power.
They had recorded 164 statements of witnesses and were said to be reaching a conclusion that Thakur and Lt Col Purohit were involved in the Malegaon blast conspiracy.
However, the second team led by GP Singh which investigated the case, re-recorded the 164 statements of the witnesses in which they said they were forced to implicate Thakur and Purohit. The witnesses had said that they wanted to record their statements afresh thereafter which they claimed they were not aware of any conspiracy.
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