In the Malegaon blast case, former BJP MP Pragya Thakur claimed she was tortured and pressured to falsely name senior leaders like PM Modi and Ram Madhav, but she refused to lie despite intense coercion and suffering.
Former BJP MP Pragya Thakur made a remarkable assertion that investigators attempted to pressure her into naming Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, and others in relation to the 2008 Malegaon blast case.
Thakur was acquitted in this case, alongside Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit and five others, by a special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday.
Her statement follows a judgment revealing that a witness, who later turned hostile, claimed he was coerced into implicating Yogi Adityanath and four other individuals associated with the RSS, including Indresh Kumar, a prominent member of the organization.
Mehboob Mujawar, a former member of the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS), also alleged that senior officers within the squad had instructed him to arrest RSS chief Bhagwat, which he refused to do.
Although the court dismissed these allegations, it did not prevent Mujawar from reiterating them on Friday, asserting that the intent behind his seniors’ orders was to misdirect the investigation and create the appearance of a “saffron terror case.”
On Saturday, Ms. Thakur stated,
“They made me name several people, including (senior BJP leader) Ram Madhav. To do all of this, they tortured me. My lungs gave up, I was detained in the hospital illegally. All of this will be part of the story I am writing, but the truth cannot be hidden. I lived in Gujarat, so they also asked me to take Prime Minister Modi’s name. I did not take anyone’s name because they were attempting to make me lie.”
She claimed that she was also pressured to name Yogi Adityanath, Mr. Bhagwat, and Indresh Kumar.
Ms. Thakur alleged,
“They said ‘take these names and we won’t beat you,'”
An explosive device attached to a motorcycle, On September 29, 2008, detonated near a mosque in Malegaon, Maharashtra, resulting in six fatalities and over 100 injuries.
In acquitting Ms. Thakur, Lt. Col. Purohit, and the other five accused, Special Judge AK Lahoti noted that the prosecution failed to substantiate the allegations and that the accused deserved the benefit of the doubt.
The judge also stated that it was not proven that the motorcycle involved in the blast belonged to Ms. Thakur, as the engine number was unclear and the chassis number had been removed.
The families of the victims have expressed their intention to seek justice through higher courts, including the Supreme Court if necessary. Shahid Nadeem, representing some of the accused, criticized the NIA for not pursuing perjury charges against the witnesses who turned hostile.
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).
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.
Case Title: National Investigation Agency vs Pragyasingh Chandrapalsingh Thakur and Ors.
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