Malegaon blast verdict: Ex-judge calls acquittal ‘death of justice’, AIMIM state chief says state should appeal against verdict in SC

When they were asked by ATS as to why the meetings were recorded, they said it was done to ensure that no one who attended it betrays them.”

The retired judge said that the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), then led by Hemant Karkare, had investigated the case thoroughly and After Karkare’s death, the chargesheet was filed. He said the The chargesheet was self-explanatory as it stated that there were several audio clips of the meetings held by the accused. He said it could transcribe only a few and therefore the ATS submitted the laptop of the accused to the court along with the chargesheet. In the charge-sheet, the ATS said “it was a big conspiracy to topple the central government, deny the existence of the Indian Constitution and bring in Manusmriti”.

“It was also mentioned in the chargesheet that the accused had tried to take the help of Israel and Nepal,” Kolse-Patil added.

He said if proper evidence was been placed before the court, then the judge cannot be blamed. “But if adequate evidence has been produced by the prosecution and still the accused have been acquitted, then I will call it death of justice and a blow to India’s democracy and secularism,” he said.

Retired Maharashtra Inspector General of Police S M Mushrif said, “I… was not shocked because of what is happening under the current regime. Actually, it was a clear-cut case in which the accused should have been held guilty. In my 35-year police career, I had never seen the kind of scientific evidence that was produced in this case. It was a water-tight case.”

Mushrif said he had read the chargesheet which was submitted by the ATS just a couple of months after the death of Karkare. “In the chargesheet, it is mentioned that for the blast conspiracy, four meetings were held between the accused. “In the chargesheet it was stated that the first meeting was held in April 2008 in which Pragya Thakur and Lt Col Purohit were present. In this meeting, it had been decided that Malegaon was dominated by Muslims and therefore they should trigger the blast there. In the second meeting held in Indore in June 2008, Thakur had come to the meeting with two people and described them as experts. Both of them are absconding till date. In the third meeting in July 2008, Thakur had complained that even after she had given two people to them, Purohit was not giving them RDX. The fourth meeting was held in Ujjain. Purohit had come with one of his associates. Purohit said RDX should be given… The two who are absconding were then given the RDX. The recordings of this meeting was tested in the forensic laboratory. In this case, the CDR of the call exchanges between the accused was also seized which also provided concrete proof.”

AIMIM Maharashtra president Imtiaz Jaleel said, “Six people died in the bomb blast. Even if one person had died, he should have got justice. But in the Malegaon blast case, justice has not been done. All seven accused have been acquitted. What message have we sent to those who are involved in terror activities and those want to divide our people? Five judges changed in the case, chargesheet of thousands of pages was filed and then supplementary chargesheet was filed, scores of witnesses were brought in… The court should tell us whether fake evidence was placed before it and who are the people responsible for this.”

Jaleel said the Malegaon NIA court verdict has raised doubts about the judicial system. “All political parties need to ponder over the verdict seriously. A two day Parliament session should be convened to discuss and debate about our judicial system.”

Jaleel said the state government should appeal against the verdict in the Supreme Court. “Actually, the Supreme Court should review this judgement… The state government should appeal in the SC. I don’t think the state government will not appeal in the court. If the state government does not appeal, then it will raise a question as to why it appealed against the verdict in the Mumbai train blast case.”

Activist Niranjan Takle said besides the seven accused, there were two others who have been declared absconders in the case and have not been found so far. “After the blast, I checked the registers of two hotels in which the name of the two absconders are mentioned. They stayed in Malegaon for one and a half days. They arrived just a day before the blast and left soon after. They still remain untraced.”