Malegaon 2008 bomb blast: Another prosecution witness turns hostile

Mumbai: One more prosecution witness in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case turned hostile on Monday

Mumbai: One more prosecution witness in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case turned hostile on Monday. The witness, a family friend of the prime accused Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit and a founding member of Abhinav Bharat organisation, in his testimony before the special court, claimed that he was detained by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officials for over a month and his statement was obtained under duress.

Malegaon 2008 bomb blast: Another prosecution witness turns hostile

The prosecution on Monday examined the witness who alleged that in June 2006 they had set up a trust by the name of Abhinav Bharat and had taken a pledge to work toward achieving the goal of the organisation.

He was declared hostile by the prosecution after he claimed that he had not given any statement to the ATS, which probed the blast case before it was taken over first by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and later by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). This takes the tally of hostile prosecution witnesses in the case to 23.

On Monday, when he was called to depose before the special NIA court hearing of the Malegaon blast case, the witness claimed that he was picked up by ATS officials from his house on October 30, 2008, and detained illegally. He said he was released only on November 28, 2008. The witness also claimed that in this period the agency did not record any of his statements and nor was any statement read over to him.

The witness claimed that the officers threatened him that they would implicate him in the case and kill him in a fake encounter and hence he did not lodge any complaint with any authority.

The witness in his statement to the ATS had claimed that after registration of the trust he noticed that there were so many discrepancies in the management of the trust – such as the accounts were not maintained, also he noticed that Purohit had used the funds of the trust for his own personal benefits, no bank account was opened in the name of trust and there was no register about any of the dealings of funds and meetings.

The witness claimed that since he had objected to everything, Purohit had distanced him from the management of the trust. The witness had resigned from the trust in February 2008 and claimed that after the resignation he had no contact with Purohit.

The witness had also claimed that Purohit had got his brother an arms licence from his quota. He claimed that in 2004 Purohit had given a gun to his brother claiming it had all India licence, but since the licence had a different name, the witness had asked him to get it cancelled. He claimed that four years later in July 2008, Purohit had called and informed him that the licence was not cancelled.