2008 Malegaon blast case: SC issues notices to Centre, NIA, Maharashtra govt

Seeks response on plea challenging removal of public prosecutor

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to the Centre, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Maharashtra government on plea against removal of the public prosecutor, Rohini Salian, in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. The petition, filed by Nisar Ahmed, the father of a blast victim, and activist Harsh Mander, said the Union home ministry, which runs NIA, had been trying to pressure “an honest prosecutor to go soft” on the accused.

Last week, a Supreme Court judge had recused himself from hearing a plea on the removal of the special public prosecutor in the case, saying he had represented certain accused in the matter.

On Friday, a Bench led by Justice J Chelameswar issued notices to the Centre, the state government and NIA, asking them to respond within a week over the allegations of complicity between the prosecution and the accused and also to investigate Salian’s accusations against the agency.

The Bench did not allow the submission of senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Indira Jaising that hearing on the bail applications of the accused be stayed for now. But the Bench said it would wait for responses from the governments and NIA, and that it might cancel the bail if the allegations were found to be true. The court will hear the case after a week.

On June 25, in an interview with The Indian Express, Rohini Salian had said an officer of NIA had pressured her to go “soft” in the case.

The blast case

On September 29, 2008, a blast killed four people and left 79 injured in Maharashtra’s Malegaon, and another at the same time in Modasa in Gujarat killed one. Investigations in the case pointed towards an alleged involvement of Hindu extremists based out of Indore. Twelve people, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, were arrested in the case. Of the 12, four are out on bail.