BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur withdraws plea seeking discharge in 2008 Malegaon blast case

Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) MP Pragya Singh Thakur on Thursday withdrew applications filed in the Bombay High Court seeking discharge from the trial of the 2008 Malegaon blasts case. 

Justice AS Gadkari-led bench allowed her to withdraw the plea. Previously, the judge had stated that the trial had reached a very advanced stage for their petitions to be considered.

On September 29, 2008, a bomb exploded in Maharashtra's Malegaon, killing six people and injuring over 100 others. BJP MP Pragya Thakur, Lt Col Purohit, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahikar, Sameer Kulkarni and Sudhakar Dwivedi are accused in the case.

The case was initially probed by Maharashtra ATS but was later transferred to the National Investigation Agency. Till now, 29 accused have turned hostile.

They have been booked under Sections 16 (committing the terrorist act) and 18 (conspiring to commit terrorist act) of the UAPA and Sections 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 153 (a) (promoting enmity between two religious groups), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC. The FIR also includes relevant sections of the Explosive Substances Act.

Republic Exclusive on Malegaon blasts

The NIA statement in the Malegaon blast case accessed by Republic TV indicates that Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit was 'fixed'. In the statement, one witness said that he was threatened that he would be implicated like Lt Col Purohit was 'implicated'.

"It is correct to say that Srivastav had also threatened me that he will also implicate me in this case, as implicated to Purohit," the witness, an Army personnel, whose identity has not been revealed, had said.

The first exposé disclosed that a series of narco tests were conducted on the accused in the case, including Lt Col Purohit. However, the accused in the case have made petitions to the court to seek access to the Narco test results in order to defend themselves and have not been given access as the reports were never relied upon.

The second exposé has put the entire probe by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) under question. Five Indian Army personnel, who turned hostile, revealed that their statements were fabricated.