The National Investigation Agency (NIA) told the Special Court in Mumbai on Friday, May 12, that it has no objection to the discharge application filed by Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, who was accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case that killed seven people. At least 100 people were injured when two bombs fitted on a motorcycle exploded on September 29, 2008.
The NIA showed no opposition to her discharge plea as they were unable to furnish any evidence that would to link her to the blast.
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"We have not objected to her discharge plea and in the charge sheet we have already said that there is no prosecutable evidence against her," Avinash Rasal, the special NIA prosecutor, said.
The NIA in its eight-page reply to Thakur's discharge application added that "there are reasonable grounds to believe that the charges against her are prima facie not true".
Earlier on April 25, the Bombay High Court had granted bail to Sadhvi Pragya, following which she had filed the discharge application to end the case.
But before the NIA took over in April 2011, the Maharashtra ATS had claimed that Thakur had provided her motorcycle to Ramji Kalsangra to plant the bombs. Kalsangra is absconding since the blast. The ATS had also accused Thakur of being involved in several conspiracy meetings in Bhopal.
But Rasal said that the NIA in its reply has dismissed the statement made by the ATS. The motorcycle did not belong to Thakur and the Forensic Sciences Laboratory could not, with certainty, identify the manufacturer of the two-wheeler. The NIA said that the motorcycle was in Kalsangra's possession for two years before the blast.
"In the reply, we also said that several witnesses who had spoken of Sadhvi's presence at the conspiracy meetings and made other incriminating statements before the ATS, had retracted their statements before the NIA. ATS had planted evidence," said Rasal. "We have pointed out that the ATS tortured these witnesses to give false statements and many witnesses had even filed formal complaints against ATS alleging torture."
The NIA has also stated that they could not find any electronic evidence to prove that Thakur was in touch with Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange, the second man who was accused of planting the bombs. Dange is also absconding.
This is the second time in a year that the NIA could not come up with any evidence to hold Thakur guilty.
