In the 2008 Malegaon blast case, witness Milind Joshirao told the court that Maharashtra ATS officers detained him for seven days and pressured him to name Yogi Adityanath and RSS leaders, threatening him with torture.
In the 2008 Malegaon blast case, a witness, Milind Joshirao, disclosed to the court that he faced torture and coercion from Maharashtra ATS officers to implicate Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other RSS leaders.
His statement came to light following the recent acquittal of all seven defendants in the case.
Joshirao was one of 39 witnesses who turned hostile during the trial. He was called to court to help clarify the motives behind the formation of Abhinav Bharat, which the ATS accused of orchestrating the blast that resulted in six fatalities and over 100 injuries.
However, instead of corroborating the ATS’s narrative, he claimed that officers Shrirao and Param Bir Singh threatened him and pressured him to name five RSS figures, including Yogi Adityanath, Asimanand, Indresh Kumar, Professor Devdhar, Sadhvi, and Kakaji.
NIA Special Judge A.K. Lahoti quoted Joshirao as saying,
“ATS treated me like an accused and kept me for seven days at their office. The officers pressured me to name five RSS individuals, including Yogi Adityanath, Asimanand, Indresh Kumar, Professor Devdhar, Sadhvi, and Kakaji, in my statement. They assured me I would be released if I did so. When I refused, DCP Shrirao and Additional Commissioner of Police Param Bir Singh threatened me with torture,”
The judge noted that Joshirao’s statement “was written down/recorded solely by an ATS officer.”
This raises doubts about its admissibility, as it suggests the statement was given involuntarily.
A special court, On July 31, in Mumbai acquitted all seven individuals charged in the case, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, due to a lack of “reliable and cogent evidence.”
The court also pointed out numerous shortcomings in the initial investigation by the Maharashtra ATS, which was later taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Adding to the controversy, a former ATS officer, Mehboob Mujawar, alleged that Param Bir Singh had instructed him to arrest RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and other prominent figures to create a narrative of ‘saffron terror’ in India.
Joshirao had been detained by the ATS on October 28, 2008, nearly a month after the blast, and remained in custody until November 7, 2008. He spent over seven days at the ATS office. The ATS initially claimed that the blast was orchestrated by individuals linked to the alleged right-wing extremist group Abhinav Bharat, which was purportedly founded by Colonel Purohit.
They alleged that a motorcycle registered in Pragya Thakur’s name was used in the explosion and implicated other defendants in a broader conspiracy aimed at inciting communal tensions.
The ATS further contended that the accused aimed to establish a Hindu Rashtra named Aryavart, disillusioned with the Indian Constitution, and sought to draft a new one, create a government-in-exile, and train individuals in guerrilla warfare. Colonel Purohit was also accused of raising Rs 21 lakh to fund these activities.
However, the NIA’s investigation took a different approach, as a supplementary chargesheet dropped charges against several defendants, including Pragya Thakur, due to insufficient evidence.
The trial, which commenced in 2018, lasted over 6.5 years. In acquitting all the accused, the judge remarked that the prosecution failed to substantiate claims regarding the installation of the bomb on the motorcycle, the ownership of the bike by Thakur, or Purohit’s involvement in storing or assembling explosives.