30th witness turns hostile in 2008 Malegaon blast case

MUMBAI: The special NIA court on Thursday declared a real estate agent hostile after he refused to support the prosecution case in connection with the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case

MUMBAI: The special NIA court on Thursday declared a real estate agent hostile after he refused to support the prosecution case in connection with the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case. The witness denied having given any statement to Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), which initially investigated the case, or to a metropolitan magistrate.

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He is the 30th witness to turn hostile in the case. As per the prosecution case, the witness was connected to Lt Col Prasad Purohit, a prime accused in the case, and his statement was recorded by ATS on November 13, 2008. It was claimed that the witness was an informer working for the military and was allegedly introduced by Purohit to military intelligence.

The statement of the witness which runs into eight pages was shown to him when he said, he didn’t recollect giving any statement to the probe agency. Following this, he was declared hostile by the court. The witness, however, identified Purohit in the court but said he doesn’t know any other witness. According to his statement, the witness had met Purohit through a common acquaintance for the first time in 2006. Later, they stayed in touch.

Purohit had recruited the witness in military intelligence, for gathering secret information and had also given him an identity card, the real estate agent had said in the statement. He had told the probe agency that Purohit spoke about spreading Hindutva ideology and that was working on building an organisation on those lines. He had also attended the meeting of Abhinav Bharat in Pune where other accused were also present, the statement claimed.