2008 Malegaon blasts: Court grants NIA time till February 15 to get legal opinion

NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) re-considering the applicability of MCOCA against the 2008 Malegaon blast accused, Lt Colonel Srikant Prasad Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh was given time till February 15 by the special NIA court at Mumbai on Tuesday, a day after ET reported that the agency is seeking opinion from attorney general, Mukul Rohtagi.

Special public prosecutor of NIA, Avinash Rasal told ET over phone, “In a fresh application, the NIA has sought adjournment since the legal opinion is awaited. The court has given time till February 15.” Government sources however told ET that the decision to “water-down” the charges against Purohit, Pragya and eight others were taken on the advice given by the legal advisory board of NIA which examined the April 15, 2015 Supreme Court order and interpreted that the provision of MCOCA will not stand during the trial of the case.

Another ground for revoking MCOCA, officials familiar with the matter said, was the rejection of 24 bail applications of the accused by the court from September last year to January 2016. The NIA court is learnt to have relied on the transcripts of the meeting attended by Sadhvi and Purohit before the blasts on September 29, 2008. According to legal experts, the transcripts are admissible as under MCOCA and once MCOCA is dropped, the recordings will be like any other evidence.

Purohit’s lawyer, Neela Gokhale told ET, “We have challenged the ruling by the NIA special court on transcripts before the Bombay high court and matter is likely to come up for hearing on February 8.” Gokhale also said that there has been prolonged delay in start of the trial and even after SC judgement in April last year; it took Centre nearly six months to appoint a judge. “Purohit and others have been languishing in jail for past seven years without the trial. The court of inquiry records clearly states that Purohit kept his seniors in the loop and it was only due to political reasons he was implicated,” she added.

The high profile case involving Hindu extremist took a dramatic turn last year when former special public prosecutor of NIA Rohini Salian alleged that the agency asked her to “go soft” after the NDA government came to power.