With several witnesses in the Malegaon bomb blast case of 2008 turning hostile and allegedly naming “BJP-RSS people” for gaining political mileage ahead of Uttar Pradesh elections, the Maharashtra Congress on Thursday sought the presence of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) during the court proceedings.
The blast, allegedly engineered by Hindu fundamentalist groups, on September 29, 2008 – one the eve of Navratri - at the Bhikku Chowk of Malegaon had claimed six lives and injured 101 others.
The Maharashtra-ATS had initially investigated the case, however, it was later taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The trial is being conducted before a special court set up under the NIA court in Mumbai.
Maharashtra Congress leader and former minister Naseem Khan met Additional Director General of Police Vineet Agarwal, who heads the ATS.
“So far 223 witnesses deposed in which 16 turned hostile and claiming that ATS tortured them to give evidence against accused. The witnesses tarnished the image of the Maharashtra government and the ATS. Hence, the presence of ATS in court is inevitable to save the image of the government and ATS,” Khan said.
It is pertinent to mention here that the accused in the Malegaon case include Dayanand Pandey alias Sudhakar Udaybhan Dhar Diwedi, popularly known as Swami Amritananda Dev Teerth, the Srimad Jagadguru Shankaracharya Sharda Sarvagyapeeth-Kashmir, former Military Intelligence official Lt Col Prasad Srikant Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur alias Purnachetanandagiri, who is now Bhopal MP, is accused in the case.
Khan said that ATS as an investigating agency is being maligned to be “anti-Hindu.”
“It seems witnesses are under influence by accused and deliberately taking names of BJP-RSS people to get mileage in Uttar Pradesh elections and defame Maharashtra government and ATS as prosecution witness 220 went beyond what was recorded in his 161 CrPC statements by mentioning the name of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. It is that the Special Public Prosecutor did not take objection to it and after deposition appeared on national news channels and took the name of Yogi Adityanath and others,” Khan pointed out.
Last month, witnesses told the court that the ATS tortured and threatened him to take the names of Yogi Adityanath and four other RSS leaders.
“The NIA is not prosecuting all the accused with honesty and sincerity. Till today 16 important witnesses turned hostile out of 223. Around 100 more crucial witnesses are left to be examined. These witnesses are crucial and they need to be protected. NIA has not challenged any order passed in favour of the accused in the Higher Court which shows their intentions clearly,” Khan said.
“Strict supervision by ATS is a must for fair trial and effective prosecution since ATS had recorded the statements of maximum witnesses and conducted most part of the investigation,” he said.
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