Former ATS officer denies charge of planting RDX in Malegaon blast accused’s home

The ATS claimed that traces of RDX were found in the home of the accused Sudhakar Chaturvedi in Deolali, Nashik, when a search was conducted. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which took over the probe from the ATS, said in its chargesheet in 2016 that the then ATS officer planted the RDX in Chaturvedi’s home.

The NIA’s chargesheet referred to the statements of two military officials, who had claimed to see the ATS officer at the accused’s home on November 3, 2008. It also claimed that the officer had first called the military official on that day and asked him to take him to Chaturvedi’s home but later said that he had been told by his superiors to return.

The chargesheet also said that the two military officials went to Chaturvedi’s home to verify and found the ATS officer there.

When asked about it by the defence lawyers, the former ATS officer told the court that it was a bid to defame him.

“All these are allegations. The case was investigated in 2008, allegations were being made against me only in 2015. These are an afterthought. I have been defamed. My father was an army officer….it is a conspiracy against me,” said the officer. He added that in its chargesheet, the NIA had nothing to prove that he had planted the evidence other than the statements of the two military officials.
Defence lawyers for Nandu Phadke and Viral Babar, for accused Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, asked him if he had any previous enmity with the NIA, military or its two officials who had deposed against him, to which the witness said that he did not.

The former ATS officer also denied planting evidence and then leading a team of ATS officers to the house where it was claimed that traces of RDX were seen. He also denied that he had assaulted a witness and forced him to give a statement as per the ATS’s say before a magistrate.

Defence lawyer J P Mishra also asked the witness if he had made any complaint when he heard these allegations were being made against him. The officer said he did not think there was a need for it. The witness’s deposition will continue on Friday.

The two witnesses of the military also deposed during the trial claiming that they had seen the ATS officer at Chaturvedi’s home. One of the witnesses had told the court during his deposition in April that he had seen the ATS officer holding a bag, sitting on the floor, ‘doing something’.

While these allegations of evidence being planted were raised by the accused while seeking bail and framing of charges against them, a special court in 2016 said that the NIA had made a serious allegation but had not recorded the statement of the ATS officer. The court had said that in absence of any opportunity to him, it requires a full-fledged trial to come to any specific conclusion on whether the RDX was planted.