Malegaon blast case twist: Witness tells court he was forced to name Yogi Adityanath, RSS Leaders
The witness, identified as Milind Joshirao, stated in court that ATS officers detained him for six to seven days and repeatedly threatened torture unless he named five RSS individuals, including Yogi Adityanath, Indresh Kumar, Professor Deodhar, Swami Aseemanand, and Sadhvi Pragya. According to Joshirao, the officers assured his release if he complied; when he refused, he was threatened with physical harm
Special Judge A.K. Lahoti noted that Joshirao's written statement had been entirely recorded by an ATS officer, raising serious doubts about its voluntariness and admissibility in court. The judge highlighted that most witnesses who had turned hostile had retracted earlier statements and underscored concerns over illegal detention and coercion by ATS personnel.
The court's acquittal of all seven accused hinged on inconsistencies in witness testimony and investigative lapses. The verdict also exposed contradictions between the Maharashtra ATS and the NIA investigations, including discrepancies about where the explosives were planted and procedural flaws attributed to UAPA provisions
In a related development, former ATS officer Mehboob Mujawar alleged that senior ATS officials directed him to arrest RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to build a narrative of "saffron terror." Multiple acquitted individuals later accused the ATS of planting evidence and engaging in torture during their detention. Former MP Pragya Thakur herself said that her detention spanned 13 days with alleged torture over 24 days, claiming attempts to coerce her into naming high-profile individuals like PM Modi and Yogi Adityanath.
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Business Standard
an hour ago
- Business Standard
Corrupt, ineffective: Akhilesh Yadav slams BJP over flood situation in UP
Yadav listed several problems allegedly faced by the flood-affected people in the state, demanding a response from the Yogi Adityanath-led government ANI Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday sad that the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh was "corrupt and ineffective" alleging that it failed to provide relief to the people affected by the flood situation in the State. Yadav listed several problems allegedly faced by the flood-affected people in the state, demanding a response from the Yogi Adityanath-led government. Sharing an X post, the SP chief wrote, "If the BJP government in UP can organise grand 'super VVIP' rallies or gatherings, why is it not carrying out relief and rescue operations during the floods? The BJP government has proven to be corrupt and ineffective." Further, he alleged a shortage of food and drinking water, and a lack of sanitation and healthcare facilities. "Not only in Prayagraj but across UP, the situation is dire due to floods. There is an acute shortage of food and drinking water. Due to the lack of toilets, people are forced to live in indecent and inhumane conditions. Sick children, pregnant women, and the elderly are unable to access medicines or treatment. Healthcare services are completely stalled," he said. Listing the problems, he added that the belongings have been inundated and people have no clothes to wear, while the flood-affected people are living in fear of venomous creatures and electrocution. "The fear of rats and venomous creatures is preventing people from sleeping. Power outages and the fear of electrocution are additional concerns. People forced to live on upper floors are also afraid of their homes collapsing. People's household belongings have been submerged. People have no clothes to wear. The ones they have are soaked. People are unable to charge their mobile phones, leading to a breakdown in communication," the X post read. He wrote, "People are gripped by the fear of flood-related diseases. It is said that floods leave behind not just mud, garbage, debris, and stench but also diseases and epidemics. Those who depend on daily wages are unable to go to work. The poor and labourers are on the brink of starvation. Farmers' fields and lands have been inundated. Shops have suffered losses worth billions of rupees." He highlighted that people have lost their identity cards and essential documents. "People's identity cards, ration cards, land and property documents, bank passbooks, educational certificates, medical prescriptions, and other essential documents have either been destroyed by water or washed away. People's vehicles have been submerged," Akhilesh added. The Samajwadi Party MP alleged that the BJP is not listening to the plight of the people whose livelihood depends on the river. He wrote, "For communities living "by the river, with the help of boats," there is a severe crisis of livelihood, but no one from the BJP government or its allied parties is there to listen or understand their plight. Children's education is being disrupted. The last rites of those who have passed away cannot be performed." He accused BJP leaders of being absent amid the crisis in the state and demanded accountability over the problems mentioned by him. He said, "In these circumstances, the public is extremely angry because the administration is absent, and the government is busy taking photos in a race for self-promotion. In such a situation, our major demand from the BJP government is that it publishes detailed responses regarding the above points. How long will the public be forced to live in an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty? Amid claims of development and smart cities, the images of destruction are heart-wrenching. There will be peace only when the BJP is gone! The flood-affected say today, we don't want the BJP!" Uttar Pradesh is grappling with floods amid heavy rainfall in the state. Earlier today, in view of the prevailing inclement weather and consistent rainfall in several districts, District Magistrate Visakh G. Iyer announced that all government and private schools from Classes 1 to 12 will remain shut today in Lucknow. In Ayodhya's Jalwanpura locality, residents were seen wading through knee-deep floodwaters after the Saryu river overflowed due to persistent downpours, while several areas in Varanasi city in Uttar Pradesh were flooded following incessant heavy rainfall and a rise in the water level of the River Ganga. The water level of the river has been continuously rising since Saturday. Taking stock of the flood crisis, the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had directed all ministers in charge to immediately visit their assigned districts, inspect relief camps, and directly engage with affected families. He instructed senior officials--including DMs, SPs, and CMOs--to stay on the ground and ensure 24x7 monitoring, said a press release on Saturday. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
New Indian Express
2 hours ago
- New Indian Express
Maharashtra's Akola district emerges as new link in the fake passport racket case; MP ATS grills Afghan kingpin
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The Wire
3 hours ago
- The Wire
Malegaon Terror Blast Judgment: How the Crucial Witnesses Prosecution Dropped Impacted the Case
Government Sukanya Shantha Just as the prosecution's reasons for suppressing certain key witnesses are unclear, it is equally unclear why the court did not exercise its authority to summon these witnesses. Mumbai: Since the trial for the 2008 Malegaon terror blast commenced in 2018, the prosecution examined 323 witnesses over a span of seven years. In the process, it dropped several witnesses, without providing any explanation as to why. The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court felt that these witnesses had been 'crucial' in establishing the chain of events. The decision to drop these witnesses, said special NIA judge A.K. Lahoti, gave the scope to draw an 'adverse inference' against the prosecution. The 1036-page judgement was made available on August 1, a day after the court acquitted all seven accused – including BJP leader and formed member of parliament Pragya Singh Thakur and serving Army officer Prasad Purohit. In it, the court has raised questions about the prosecution's intention to drop several crucial witnesses who the court observed would have helped connect the missing dots in the case. Besides Thakur and Purohit, five other persons – Major Ramesh Upadhyay (retired), Ajay Rahirkar, Sameer Kulkarni, Sudhakar Chaturvedi were also acquitted by the NIA court on July 31. The acquittal, the court has observed, was an outcome of the prosecution's failure to bring sufficient evidence. Even with 'grave suspicion', the court was not able to punish the accused persons, as 'mere suspicion is not enough', the court observed. According to the Anti-Terrorism Squad's case, which was later taken up by the NIA, Purohit has allegedly founded an organisation 'Abhinav Bharat' in 2006 and had attempted to establish a 'Hindu rashtra [nation]' which would have its own constitution, flag and 'government in exile' to be run from either Israel or Thailand. As a part of this agenda, the accused persons had come together and carried out the terror blast in Malegaon. Special public prosecutor Avinash Rasal took over the case soon after the earlier special public prosecutor Rohini Salian made a dramatic exit from the case in 2015 claiming that she was given instructions to 'go soft' on the accused persons charged in the case. She had claimed that she had received the instructions from 'higher ups'. Since Salian's exit, Rasal has been involved in the case for close to a decade. Among the many witnesses that the prosecution decided to drop are those who could have helped establish the movement of the alleged bombers days before the blast occurred. Ramchandra Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange One of the witnesses that the prosecution decided to drop without any cogent explanation is the person whose user ID and phone number was used to book tickets. According to the ATS's case, which was later taken over by the NIA which eventually filed a chargesheet in 2016, one witness named Vilok Sharma had used his account and his phone number to book the train tickets for two absconding accused persons, Ramchandra Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange, to travel from Pune to Indore. The two, according to both the ATS and the NIA, were accused of planting the bombs. Another person, Praveen Takkalki alias Pravin Mutalik, who the ATS had earlier accused of participating in the blast along with the two absconding accused was eventually discharged from the case after the NIA did not find any evidence against him in 2017. The judgment, narrating the NIA's case, points to Sharma's role in getting the tickets booked under fake names – Balwant Pathak and Mansingh – instead of their real names Ramchandra Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange. Their travel to Pune, where the RDX explosive was allegedly procured from Purohit and then to Indore where the absconding accused had allegedly assembled, planted, fitted the explosive on the LML Freedom motorcycle, were fundamental to the investigation. Also read: Malegaon Blast Trial: 1,087 Hearings, Inexplicable Orders and Victims Who Refused to Relent The court said although the facts of the case create 'grave suspicion' against the accused, mere suspicion was not enough to convict them. The court finally had to give the 'benefit of the doubt' and acquit the seven persons facing trial in the case. The travel to Pune and Indore was crucial not just to establish the movement of the absconding accused but also their otherwise loosely hanging links with army officer Purohit, who now stands acquitted in the case. 'Thus, Vilok Sharma from the aforesaid point of view was a material witness who could narrate about ticket details, booking details and traveling history. But, the prosecution has not examined Vilok Sharma. The prosecution has dropped the said witness... Therefore, in the absence of any evidence on this point, it cannot be said that, from his account the railway tickets were booked in the name of two fake persons and those were actually booked by AA-1 (Kalsangra) and AA-2 (Dange).' It is not just Sharma's statement but also the fact that an absolutely essential certificate, to be procured under Section 65 B of the Evidence Act, was not produced before the court. Without this certificate, electronic evidence is not admissible. The prosecution's case was that Kalsangra and Dange were in Pune around the same time as when Purohit had allegedly procured the RDX, i.e. August 8 to August 11. These finer details of the conspiracy and procurement of the explosive needed step-by-step building up of the evidence. The prosecution, according to the NIA judge, had dropped that. Sharma was dropped from the list of witnesses even though his name cropped up in the examination of other witnesses, especially a senior railway executive and an ATS officer. The judgement says: 'Thus, only Vilok Sharma was the witness who could say about the booking of the aforesaid ticket. The material witness Vilok Sharma is not examined by the prosecution. Non examination of material witness without any explanation give rise to draw the adverse inference against prosecution.' Another witness Pramod Deshmukh, who according to the investigating agency had seen Kalsangra and Dange had seen them in Pune around August 8 and 11, was an 'eye witness' but dropped by the witness. Another important witness, the court points out, was the policeman who diffused the detonator but was not examined as a witness. Judge Lahoti writes: 'Officer API Sachin Gawade who has actually diffused the detonator as per the case of prosecution is not examined as witness. He was the only person who could narrate the exact condition of the detonator, the procedure carried out by him for diffusing the detonator and collection of remnants after diffusing. The non-examination of material witnesses give rise to adverse inference." 'Missing' In 2016, the NIA had informed the court that around 13 witness statements, recorded under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) before a magistrate, had gone missing. The central agency had attributed this sudden and suspicious disappearance of documents to their constant ferrying between the trial and the higher courts. While the original copies of these statements had gone missing, the NIA had sought permission before the NIA court to use the photocopies of the document – which the court had granted. This permission was challenged by one of the accused persons in the Bombay high court, which later stayed the trial court's order and had directed the NIA to file a fresh application authenticating that the photocopies were indeed a replica of the original. Interestingly, the NIA did not file that application, and the witnesses were examined solely on whether their testimonies were recorded under Section 164 of the CrPC. In the absence of these Section 164 statements, the magistrate who recorded them should have been examined. However, the prosecution decided against it. The judgment notes, 'The aforesaid statements (recorded under Section 164 Cr.P.C.) were neither presented to the witnesses nor was the concerned magistrate examined in such circumstances.' These 13 statements were crucial for proving the conspiracy meetings, the movements of the alleged bombers, and other key aspects of the case. At least two of these witnesses were essential to prove the conspiracy meetings where conversations purportedly on revenge on Muslims were discussed. While it is incumbent upon the prosecution to present important witnesses in court, when the prosecution fails to do so, the court could have done it. Section 311 of the CrPC empowers the court to summon witnesses it deems essential for the case. Just as the prosecution's reasons for suppressing certain key witnesses are unclear, it is equally unclear why the court did not exercise its authority to summon these witnesses. The prosecution examined a total of 323 witnesses in the case, of whom 39 turned hostile. However, public prosecutor Rasal did not initiate perjury proceedings against them, and nor did the court make any significant observations regarding the witnesses who refused to adhere to their original statements. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
