Malegaon 2008 blasts: Court wants records granting sanction to prosecute accused

Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit. (Express photo)

A special National Investigation Act (NIA) court has ordered for production of records of the sanction given to prosecute the Malegaon 2008 blasts accused. This comes after two of the accused — Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit and retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay — claimed that the sanction did not follow proper procedure.

Upadhyay had claimed in his application that it was mandatory for the state to set up an independent review committee to decide on whether the sanction to prosecute the accused under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act should be given. He claimed that there were several discrepancies in the process, where the directorate of prosecution appointed as the reviewing authority had not given any recommendation to the state to evoke the UAPA.

Special public prosecutor Avinash Rasal said the NIA had opposed the plea, stating that the investigating officer of NIA had not relied on the document. The NIA also contended that these aspects about the sanction could be decided at the time of the trial. The court, however, found that it would have to be relied upon by the investigating officer and directed the directorate of prosecution to present the documents pertaining to the recommendation of the sanction.