Malegaon Blast

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday told a special court here that two witnesses in the September 2008 Malegaon blast case who were to depose during the day have died. Special public prosecutor Avinash Rasal informed the special NIA court both succumbed to natural causes and submitted their death certificates. One of the witnesses had, in his statement to the earlier investigating agency Maharashtra's Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS), claimed he met accused Colonel Prasad Purohit and other accused in the case on several occasions during which they had spoken about their right wing group Abhinav Bharat and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat and Indresh Kumar. So far 27 witnesses have turned hostile in the case in which BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh and Purohit are accused. Around 110 witnesses are yet to be examined in the trial, which is being held on a daily basis. On Sep 29, 2008, an explosive had gone off on a motorcycle at Malegaon town of Nashik district, killing six persons and ..

Fourteen years after a blast in Maharashtra's Malegaon town claimed six lives and injured more than 100 people, the trial in the case is still going on before a special NIA court here and more than witnesses are yet to be examined while 26 have turned hostile. Seven persons, including BJP MP Prgaya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, are facing trial in the case, which is being probed by the National Investigation Agency, and have been charged under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). All the accused are currently out on bail. As per the NIA, there were nearly 450 witnesses sought to be examined in the case. The special court has examined 272 witnesses of whom 26 have turned hostile. As per information available, more than 100 witnesses are yet to be examined. In 2015, the Supreme Court had directed for the trial to be concluded expeditiously. Later, one of the accused the case, Sameer Kulkarni, filed a petition in the Bombay High Court claiming that d

Apart from Purohit and Sadhvi, the accused are - Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni

The court directed Sadhvi Pragya to surrender her passport to NIA

RSS Head of Communication department said, 'They were with RSS. We do not know about their whereabouts. Neither do we know about their involvement in the case'

In a scathing attack, Congress leader Anand Sharma said that NIA has become 'Namo Investigation Agency'

Party also attacks NIA and BJP for doubting role of slain ATS chief Hemant Karkare, who was heading NIA when it arrested Pragya and Col Shrikant Purohit