Pragya Thakur reiterates bike used in 2008 Malegaon blast was not hers

Pragya Singh Thakur, arrested in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, reiterated before the Bombay high court on Tuesday that the motorcycle used to plant the bomb was not hers.

Pragya Singh Thakur, arrested in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, reiterated before the Bombay high court on Tuesday that the motorcycle used to plant the bomb was not hers.

She said she had sold the bike to former RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi in 2004, much before the incident.

Thakur’s counsel argued that the above submissions could be supported by the witnesses’ statements given to the Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad (ATS) since one of the witnesses, a garage owner, had told the ATS that one Ramji, who was known to Joshi, used to bring the bike to the garage for servicing.

Both Ramji and Joshi have been named by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) as accused in the 2006 Malegaon blasts case. Joshi was murdered in 2011. Ramji is also an absconding accused in the 2008 case.

The submissions were made while the court was hearing an appeal filed by Thakur, challenging a lower court order rejecting her bail plea.

Thakur has claimed that the special NIA court, that rejected her bail plea on June 28 this year, erred in doing so.

In November 2015, following an order of the apex court, Thakur had filed a bail application before the special NIA court that was rejected after the court held that there was prima facie evidence against her.

In May this year, NIA filed a charge sheet in the case absolving Thakur of all charges. The NIA also dropped the stringent charge of MCOCA against all accused and thus, rendered their confessional statements inadmissible as evidence.