Malegaon blast case: BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur appears before NIA court

Only six accused — Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Purohit, Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni — appeared before the court on Monday. Sudhakar Dwivedi was not present and his lawyer cited religious rituals as the reason for his inability to attend court, and sought exemption from appearance

MUMBAI: Bharatiya Janata Party MP Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, appeared before a special National Investigation Agency court on Monday. Thakur, one of the seven accused in the case, arrived around 2pm, nearly two hours after the other accused in the case appeared before the court.

New Delhi, India - July 9, 2019: BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Thakur arrives to attend the Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Party meeting at Parliament Library in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday, July 9, 2019. (Photo by Mohd Zakir/ Hindustan Times) (Mohd Zakir/HT PHOTO)

The BJP MP informed the court that she suffers from health issues that prevent her from waking up early in the morning. The court then adjourned the matter to October 3 to record the statements of the accused.

Only six accused — Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Purohit, Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni — appeared before the court on Monday. Sudhakar Dwivedi was not present and his lawyer cited religious rituals as the reason for his inability to attend court, and sought exemption from appearance.

The court, however, refused the plea and issued a bailable warrant of ₹5,000 against Dwivedi.

The special court has now asked all the accused to remain present before the court at 10:30am, failing which the court said an appropriate order would be passed. One of the accused retired major Ramesh Upadhyay however pleaded the court that the hearing should begin at 11am since they come from out of station and in cases of delay in their train, they may not be able to reach the court in time.

On Monday, the court was scheduled to record statements of the accused seeking their explanation as against the evidence in terms of statements of witnesses and documented records presented by the prosecution during the trial.

The defence, however, moved the plea that they may be supplied with a copy of the questions beforehand to explain the same and prepare the accused on the replies. The court has asked the prosecution to respond to the plea by Friday.

Thakur’s lawyer had expressed difficulty stating that she was not feeling well and would be late for the court hearing. The court expressed anger when she did not turn up till 1:30pm. The court then gave a last chance that if she did not turn up an order would be passed against her. However, just when the court was to begin dictating the order at 2pm, Singh entered the court.

The court later deferred the hearing and warned all the accused to remain present at the next hearing scheduled on October 3.

Six people were killed and more than 100 injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a town about 200 km from Mumbai in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008. The case was initially probed by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) before it was transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2011.