The Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai has directed all the accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case to be present before the court at least once a week. The court also expressed displeasure over the accused not being present in the courtroom.
Special NIA court in Mumbai directs all accused of Malegaon 2008 blast case to remain present before the court atleast once a week.Accused include Pragya Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Purohit and others.Court expressed displeasure over their absence in courtroom. Next hearing on May 20 pic.twitter.com/CSqSPX0zyy
— ANI (@ANI) May 17, 2019
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal, and Lt Col Purohit are accused in the Malegaon blast case. They were both arrested in relation to the case. Last month the NIA court while hearing a petition filed by Nisar Ahmed Sayyed Bilal, had refused to restrain Sadhvi Pragya’s candidature in the Lok Sabha elections citing the lack of jurisdiction. She had alleged that she was subjected to brutal custodial torture while she was in custody. She had named the former ATS Chief Late Hemant Karkare as being involved in her custodial torture but she had to apologise for naming Karkare following criticism.
Last year Lt Col Purohit had filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking an SIT probe into his abduction, detention, and torture since his arrest in 2008. However, the Apex court had refused to entertain his petition and asked him to approach the trial court. The court cited the reason that the petition might impact the ongoing trial in the Malegaon blast case.
