In what is being termed as a dilution of the Malegaon blasts case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday stated that Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and five others, held in the case, were not recommended for prosecution, setting the stage for their early release from jail.
The second supplementary charge sheet filed in the NIA special court has come as a severe blow to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) investigation into the 2008 case, in which seven people were killed. In the charge sheet, submitted by public prosecutor Geeta Godambe before special judge SD Tekale, the agency cited lack of evidence against the sadhvi as the reason, and also stated that the draconian Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) was not applicable in the case. Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, however, remained a key accused in the case.
Initially, the case was being investigated by ATS joint commissioner Hemant Karkare, who was then killed during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack. Before the NIA took over the case in 2011, ATS had booked 16 people, and filed charge sheets against 14 accused in a Mumbai court, on January 20, 2009 and April 21, 2011.
An NIA official said, "During the investigation, sufficient evidence was not found against Pragya Singh Thakur, Shiv Narayan Kalsangra, Shyam Bhavarlal Sahu, Praveen Takkalki, Lokesh Sharma and Dhan Singh Chaudhury. The final report that the NIA has submitted in the court states that the prosecution against them was not maintainable."
The NIA, however, has recommended prosecution against Ramesh Shivaji Upadhyay, Sameer Sharad Kulkarni, Ajay Rahirkar, Rakesh Dhawde, Jagdish Chintaman Mahatre, Prasad Shrikant Puruhit, Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ramchandra Kalsangra (wanted) and Sandeep Dange (wanted) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Arms Act and the Explosives Substances Act.
Purohit and Thakur had moved several applications before the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court, challenging the charge sheet and applicability of the stringent Mcoca in the case. The NIA also mentioned about the army's Court of Inquiry report against Purohit, which claimed that the ATS officials barged into his house and "planted" RDX there. The NIA is yet to come to its own conclusion about the claims made by the army in the report.
Meanwhile, special public prosecutor (SPP) Avinash Rasal said he was not informed about the filing of the charge sheet. "I am hurt and I may resign from the case," he said.
NIA director general Sharad Kumar categorically denied the claim that the case has been diluted. Asked about the agency's past stand on the case, when it had opposed the bail plea of Thakur and others in the Supreme Court, Kumar said, "Till our investigation was not complete, we had to go by the ATS probe. Now that we have completed our investigation, we have submitted our final report (chargesheet)."
The Congress slammed the NIA decision to drop charges against Thakur and five others, besides diluting the case against Lt Col and nine other accused. Senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh said, "As I had predicted, BJP and RSS have started the process of saving the Sangh activists involved in terror cases. Was the DG of NIA given an extension for this?"
Minister of state for home, Kiren Rijiju, however dismissed such allegations, saying the government does not interfere in the investigation by law agencies. "We allow agencies to work independently," he said.
BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said, "I was of the opinion from day one that Pragya Thakur and others have just been framed in these cases. There was nothing against her... After the atrocity a person like her has undergone, I think had there been any other liberal, law-abiding country, there would have been a counter-investigation against people involved."
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