OPS walks out of NDA; alliance decision later
Ahead of the development, veteran politician Panruti S. Ramachandran, advisor to the ACRRC, told TNIE that Panneerselvam should exit the NDA, saying the alliance had been ignoring the former Chief Minister.
The last straw between Panneerselvam and the NDA came when the former Chief Minister was denied an opportunity to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his recent visit to Tamil Nadu.
Announcing the decision to quit the NDA, Ramachandran told reporters that three important decisions were taken at the high-level meeting, the first being the decision to exit the alliance. When asked about the reasons, he said they were already well known to everyone.
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NDTV
a few seconds ago
- NDTV
What Mahesh Jethmalani, Pragya Thakur's Ex Lawyer, Said On Malegaon Verdict
New Delhi: After all the seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case -- including BJP leader Pragya Thakur -- were acquitted by a special court on Thursday, senior lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani, who represented Ms Thakur during her early bail proceedings, criticised the foundations of the case. Speaking to NDTV, Mr Jethmalani said that the charges were politically driven, and because of this, a faulty investigation was inevitable. "If you're running a narrative as opposed to embarking upon an investigation for the truth of the matter, you are bound to be conducting a faulty investigation. And therefore, if your motive is political and not to search for the truth, that is what is going to happen, and you had a faulty investigation, and the judge said no evidence at all against these persons. I said that in 2009 itself, when I first took up Sadhvi Pragya's case for bail, I said it was a case completely based on oral evidence. There was nothing at all." Mr Jethmalani told NDTV. The court, presided by Special Judge AK Lahoti, held that the prosecution failed to establish any direct links between the accused and the 2008 Malegaon blast. It found that mere suspicion could not substitute for legal proof in a criminal trial. The court also ruled that the provisions of the stringent UAPA were not applicable in the case. On the question of whether officials responsible for prosecuting the case should now face consequences, Mr Jethmalani pointed the finger at the political establishment. The veteran lawyer laid the blame partly on the UPA-era leadership, accusing it of using investigating agencies to manufacture a narrative of 'Hindu terror'. "If you have a political motive as opposed to a search for truth, if you want to create this 'Hindu', 'saffron' terror theme in a dastardly attack where several innocent people were killed, then that's what's going to happen. You're going to have a false investigation, which a court won't accept," Mr Jethmalani said. "Who are the officials who pushed this case forward?" he asked. "The narrative was set politically, right? And unfortunately, if you're investigating officers in such heinous crimes, then you should really be going for the top people. You'll make a scapegoat out of a few officers who followed a faulty line of investigation. Maybe you should, maybe you will get the truth as to why they did it." Six people were killed in the blast that occurred on the night of September 29 2008, near Bhikku Chowk in the communally tense town, located about 200 km from Mumbai, during the holy month of Ramzan. The acquittals have left the victims' families without closure, and the lack of convictions raises difficult questions. "There is a travesty. It just shows that we have reached a new low in our country, where people are politicising terror. As a result of such politicisation, the real perpetrators behind these dastardly crimes are getting away. Maybe this matter needs to be reinvestigated, but don't forget that these cases were initially handled by the Anti-Terrorist Squad in Maharashtra and then by the NIA. You don't get more prestigious institutions than those. Those are the standards," Mr Jethmalani said. "I've been lamenting the standards in every institution. Did you think you'd see a judiciary where cash was found in such large amounts and in sacks? The whole thing is mind-boggling. Let's face it. People won't say this but our criminal justice system leaves much to be desired. It's in shambles at the moment," he added. In a 500-page judgment, Special Judge Lahoti held that the prosecution failed to prove key claims. While it was established that a bomb blast occurred, the court found no evidence conclusively tying the explosive to the motorbike allegedly owned by Ms Thakur. Nor did the prosecution sufficiently demonstrate the participation of the accused in any conspiracy. The court also awarded compensation to the victims with Rs 2 lakh for the families of those killed and Rs 50,000 for each of the 101 injured.
Indian Express
a few seconds ago
- Indian Express
Train blasts, Malegaon: Two attacks, multiple investigations, and how the cases fell
In a span of 10 days, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) have received major blows in two big terrorism cases, with courts junking their investigation and finding no substance in their theories, leading to the accused being let off. Pointing to lapses in the Malegaon investigation, the Special NIA Court Thursday said: 'Though there was strong suspicion against the accused persons, the investigating agencies failed to establish their guilt beyond reasonable doubt to convict them.' The September 2008 Malegaon blasts had left six people dead and over a hundred injured. All the seven accused, including former BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, were acquitted by the court Thursday. The ATS's case was that the blasts were carried out by people with radical Hindutva leanings, with the communally sensitive Malegaon chosen deliberately for an attack during the month of Ramzan and on the eve of Navaratri. On July 21, the Bombay High Court set aside a special court verdict, acquitting all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case that killed 186. Of the accused, five had been awarded death sentences and seven life terms. Both these cases happened under Congress-led governments in the state and at the Centre — and were first investigated by the state ATS. Both had communal and political overtones; hence, amid allegations from political parties, different probe agencies were roped in at different stages of the case, impacting the overall investigation. In the Mumbai train blasts case, the ATS built a case blaming individuals linked to members of the Students' Islamic Movement of India, backed by Pakistani terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). The Special MCOCA Court validated the ATS's investigation and, in October 2015, awarded the death penalty to five of the convicts and life terms to seven others. The accused kept claiming that they were subjected to torture during the custodial interrogation. On July 21, the Bombay High Court set aside this verdict, putting a big question mark on the ATS's theory that individuals linked to SIMI had orchestrated the blasts. This is important as, two years after the train blasts, the Mumbai Crime Branch, then headed by Joint Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria, had claimed that when they busted the Indian Mujahideen (IM) module that had carried out blasts in Ahmedabad and other parts of the country, their members had admitted to also having carried out the Mumbai train blasts. In the Malegaon case, in October-November 2008, the ATS under its then chief Hemant Karkare made arrests of several alleged Hindu fundamentalists, including Thakur, and invoked MCOCA. However, soon after, Karkare was killed during the November 26, 2008, Mumbai attack, after which former ATS chief K P Raghuvanshi was roped in to investigate the Malegaon case. He was first given additional charge of the ATS for seven months, then made full-fledged ATS chief and promoted to ADG rank. During his first stint with the ATS, Raghuvanshi, incidentally, had led the investigation into the 2006 Mumbai train blasts as well. Karkare's investigation, alleging the involvement of Hindu extremists, was reflected in the first chargesheet filed by the ATS in January 2009, followed by a supplementary chargesheet in April 2011. However, in April 2011, the Ministry of Home Affairs, under the UPA government, suo motu directed the NIA to take up further investigation. The Central agency registered cases under provisions of the MCOCA, UAPA, Explosive Substances Act, and Indian Penal Code. In May 2014, the UPA was replaced by the BJP-led NDA at the Centre. Two years later, on May 13, 2016, the NIA filed its second supplementary chargesheet in the case, which dropped MCOCA charges against all the accused. This was significant as the ATS had relied heavily on confessional statements made by some of the accused, which were admissible as evidence under MCOCA. After the NIA took over, 33 witnesses turned hostile in the case. Some claimed that their accounts were recorded under pressure. Before the trial could commence in the case, the NIA moved court requesting that Pragya Thakur be dropped as an accused as there was no witness or proof to show she was involved in the conspiracy. However, the court did not accept this, citing the prima facie evidence against her. In May 2015, Special Public Prosecutor in the case Rohini Salian told The Indian Express that NIA officers had put pressure on her to 'go soft' on the accused and not to appear in hearings. Calling the ATS investigation into the Malegaon 2008 blasts flawed, former Additional DGP P K Jain said that 33 witnesses turning hostile in one case was very unusual, and indicated major flaws in the investigation. The Nashik Range IG when blasts hit Malegaon in 2006, Jain said the initial police investigation then had found the role of local persons and two Pakistanis. But the ATS, while probing the 2008 Malegaon blasts, blamed alleged Hindu fundamentalists for the 2006 blasts too, Jain said. The original accused were discharged and a new set of accused were injected, thus ruining the whole case, he alleged. After the Central and state governments came under criticism for failing to provide justice to the victims of the train blasts case, the Maharashtra government had promptly challenged the verdict in the Supreme Court of India. It is to be seen if the NIA challenges Thursday's verdict in the High Court.
The Hindu
a few seconds ago
- The Hindu
BJP, Sangh Parivar promoting hate and divisive politics for electoral gains: K.C. Venugopal
All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K.C. Venugopal has alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Sangh Parivar are 'promoting hate and divisive politics for electoral gains', accusing the Centre of orchestrating a 'political drama' over the arrest and delayed release of two Keralite nuns in Chhattisgarh. Speaking to the media after visiting the family of Sister Vandana Francis at Udayagiri in Kannur, Kerala, on Friday (August 1, 2025), Mr. Venugopal questioned the BJP's 'logic in celebrating the nuns' release after eight days of custody.' 'If BJP leaders in Kerala truly cared, they would have acted on the day of the arrest itself, just as they react when cakes are distributed in Christian homes,' he said. Slams Chhattisgarh government Mr. Venugopal criticised the BJP-led Chhattisgarh government for slapping 'serious charges' such as human trafficking and religious conversion on the nuns, which he claimed were baseless. 'These nuns were entitled to bail on the first day itself. Instead, the BJP government denied them justice and prolonged their custody by pushing for the cases to be transferred to an NIA court,' he said. Alleging that the Sangh Parivar's ideology is 'inherently anti-minority', Mr. Venugopal said this pattern was visible across all BJP-ruled States. 'Even BJP MPs from Chhattisgarh are using provocative language. The Chief Minister is speaking in tone of the Bajrang Dal and all of this is happening with the knowledge of the Central BJP leadership,' he added. He accused BJP leaders in Kerala of engaging in theatrics to woo the Christian community, 'which has always stood for secularism.' 'They will see through the BJP's double standards,' he said, citing previous incidents in Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Chhattisgarh and Odisha as 'examples of targeted action against Christians.' Mr. Venugopal said he had immediately appealed to the Union Home Minister and the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister following the arrests of the nuns and that the Congress had launched strong protests inside and outside Parliament. 'A delegation of MPs was sent to Chhattisgarh. On the direction of the AICC, former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel visited the nuns in jail. Despite all this, the BJP government refused to act,' he said.
