The Maharashtra Congress on Thursday wrote a letter to Chief Minister Adu Thackeray in a major development in the 2008 Malegaon blast case asking it to ensure that witnesses in the case are not pressured, threatened or coerced. Not given
Acting State Congress President Arif Naseem Khan in a letter to Chief Minister Adu Thackeray and Home Minister Dilip Wale Patil said that there were several important accused in the terrorism case, including BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thackeray, Col. PS Prohat, retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Dayanand Pandey and many others.
Congress leader Arif Naseem Khan said, “I have noticed that in order to save all the accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, some organizations and individuals are threatening the witnesses to retract their statements before the court.” They are creating pressure and giving greed. The Congress leader said that Wilsay Patil had assured that he would take necessary action in the matter to ensure a free and fair hearing in the daily hearings before the special court.
It is noteworthy that on September 29, 2008, an explosion took place near a mosque in Malegaon while several people were praying there. The blast killed at least nine people and injured more than 80 others. The case was later investigated and it was found that it was carried out by saffron terrorist groups. It was first investigated by the Maharashtra ATS and later taken over by the NIA and has a total of 495 witnesses.
Arif Naseem Khan has requested Thackeray and Valse Patil that such groups or individuals should be investigated by a high level committee and strict action should be taken against them for influencing or harassing witnesses. He said that 220 of these witnesses have already testified, out of which 15 have already retracted their statements. In addition, due to pressure from some organizations and individuals, other witnesses against the investigating agency may withdraw their statements.
His letter is further illustrated by the fact that a day earlier, a witness in the case made a startling claim that he had been detained by the ATS for a week in 2008 and then by Yogi Adityanath. Including forced to name five leaders of the RSS. Yogi Adityanath is currently the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
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The witness is one of the trustees of Abhinav Bharat and has stated that his statement was not recorded by the ATS but the agency attached his alleged five-page statement to the indictment filed in the court in 2009. Was
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