PIL against Malegaon probe struck down

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a PIL challenging the probe by the Maharashtra Police Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) into the Malegaon blast case and the arrest of Hindu religious leaders,including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. “We cannot entertain such a petition,” said a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan.

In his petition,advocate Kaushal Kishor Chaudhary alleged that the ATS and the Maharashtra Government had conspired to term the Malegaon blast as a product of ‘Hindu terrorism’,aiming at votebank politics. Seeking a judicial inquiry,Chaudhary also said the Supreme Court guidelines were not followed while arresting the accused.

A serving Army officer,Lt Col Srikant Purohit,and a retired officer,Major Ramesh Upadhaya,have been arrested apart from the sadhvi,Dayanand Pandey,Sameer Kulkarni and Sham Lal Sahu. He said parents or relatives of persons who are picked up by investigators should be intimated as required by law. This was not followed while detaining the sadhvi and other co-accused,he alleged.