‘NIA charge sheet in Malegaon blast case politically motivated’

Alleging that the charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the 2008 Malegaon blast case is politically motivated to facilitate the early release of the accused, Nisar Bilal, 64, a victim, has urged a special court to discard the document.

Alleging that the charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the 2008 Malegaon blast case is politically motivated to facilitate the early release of the accused, Nisar Bilal, 64, a victim, has urged a special court to discard the document.

On May 13, the agency submitted a supplementary charge sheet, giving clean chit to six accused, including Pragya Singh Thakur, and recommended that all charges against them be dropped. The NIA said the shoddy probe by the state authorities had forced the U-turn and that the provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) are not applicable to the case.

“The supplementary charge sheet appears prepared by the government to help and facilitate the accused persons to come out from the jail,” reads the application. “The NIA re-examined various witnesses and stated in the charge sheet they are not supporting their earlier version. There was no need for the NIA to re-examine the said witnesses. If the witnesses are not supporting the case, they may turn hostile before the court.”

The application, filed through advocate Sharif Shaikh, stated, “Perusal of supplementary charge sheet shows that NIA officer didn’t try to collect any additional evidence which can assist the court for fair trial, on the contrary they put all their efforts and concentration only on contradicting the earlier charge sheet filed by previous police officers, with the sole purpose to dilute the said case against the selected accused.”

Bilal alleged the state ATS should also be called on to argue on the case and evidence collected by them. The court has now asked the prosecution to file their reply on the application till June 10.

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