SC notice to centre on Malegaon blasts case prosecutor

The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the central government and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on a PIL seeking to bring back Rohini Salian as special prosecutor in Malegaon bomb blast case.

The court has also sought response on the the public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a probe into the allegations that she was pressurised to go slow in the case.

An apex court bench of Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre issued notice as senior counsel Kapil Sibal, appearing for petitioner Harsh Mander, told the court that accused were being granted bail without any opposition by the investigating agency.

The notice on the petition, also by Nisar Ahmed, has also been issued to Maharashtra government and is returnable in a week.

As Sibal told the court that accused were being granted bail without following the procedure, the court said that it would cancel the bails in that case.

The counsel for the accused urged the court to make accused a party in the matter. The former bureaucrat-turned-social activist Harsh Mander has moved the apex court seeking that Rohini Salian, who had stepped down as special prosecutor in Malegaon case involving right wing Hindu groups, be brought back to lead the CBI's case.

He has also sought probe into the allegations that Rohini Salian was asked by the NIA to go slow in the case, an allegation denied by the investigating agency.

Mander in his PIL, while referring to an earlier interview by Rohini Salian, wherein she had alleged that she was pressured by the NIA to go soft in the Malegaon case has sought court's intervention for a fair trial.

The PIL has alleged that NIA was acting under the instructions of its political masters. Malegaon, in 2008, was rocked by blasts that claimed six lives and left more than 100 injured.