Malegaon blast: NIA drops charges against Pragya Thakur, 5 others
NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency – NIA has dropped all charges against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and five others in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case.The agency has also dropped the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act – MCOCA against the remaining ten accused.
The supplementary chargesheet filed by NIA before Special Judge S D Tekale today has led to a political furore.The National Investigation Agency – NIA has given clean chit to 6 people including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. Thakur, part of a pro-Hindu group Abhinav Bharat was considered as one of the main accused in the case.
A supplementary charge sheet filed by the NIA in a Mumbai court today claimed that there was no sufficient evidence against Thakur and so the charges against her must be dropped.
Meanwhile, the agency has recommended action against ten other accused including Ramesh Upadhya, Sameer Kulkarni, and Lt Col Prasad Purohit under various sections of IPC, Arms Act, Explosives Act and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act apart from charges of criminal conspiracy and murder.
However, NIA has today also claimed that case does not attract any valid offence under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.The agency has hence neither relied upon nor included the confessional statements recorded under MCOCA in this supplementary chargesheet.
At least six people were killed and about 100 were injured in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blasts case.While the probe was initially conducted by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, it was later handed over to NIA.
The Centre has rejected the charges of Congress in the Malegaon blast case saying that it does not interfere in the investigation work of probe agencies.Talking to reporters in New Delhi, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said,the government has allowed the agencies to work independently and there was no interference.
He said, the National Investigation Agency has filed the chargesheet in the case after completing the investigation. He alleged that the previous UPA government had pressurised the agencies and also provoked certain sections by coining a slogan of Hindu terror.
