Malegaon blast case: Allegations that Purohit procured RDX from Kashmir baseless, says lawyer
"ATS had claimed that Purohit had procured RDX for Malegaon blast of 2008 in 2003 from Kashmir. This is unthinkable. Purohit was an intelligence officer. His job was not to handle the RDX at all," said Shivde.
In a bizzare development, advocate Shrikant Shivde appearing on behalf of Malegaon bomb blast accused Lt Col Prasad Purohit on Tuesday told the Bombay High Court that Ramji Kalasangra and Sandeep Dange were killed by the ATS and the two unidentified bodies that were found in 26/11 terror attack were of Kalasangra and Dange.
One unidentified body was riddled with bullet marks while the other unidentified person had died of head injury. This according to Shivde was impeachable evidence against the ATS, that is being blamed by Purohit for having planted RDX and other evidence against him.
Advocate Sandesh Patil appearing for the NIA objected to this kind of statement being made in the court and said that in such a case when the defense has lot of information, they should go to the sessions court and re-apply for bail under changed circumstances.
Division bench of Justice Ranjit More and Shalini Phansalkar Joshi also said that this was not part of the appeal for bail that has been filed by Purohit. However, Shivde said that he had a right to argue during the appeal.
Earlier, former senior inspector Mehmood Mujawar of the ATS, who had been suspended had claimed that both Dange and Kalsangra were dead but were falsely being shown as alive by the ATS. The NIA has recorded his statement and is determining the veracity of his claims.
Purohit, a serving Army officer, is one of the accused in the Malegaon 2008 blast case. A low intensity bomb kept on a motorcycle had ripped through Malegaon, killing seven people and injuring about 100.
Also read: Malegaon blast case: Lt Col Purohit infiltrated into ISI, SIMI camps, says his lawyer
The case was earlier investigated by the ATS and then handed over to the NIA. According to the investigating agencies, right wing organisation Abhinav Bharat and its members were behind these blasts. Other accused in the case, Sadhvi Pragya Singh have also filed for bail after the NIA said that they did not find any evidence against her and five others.
Shivde lamented that during the filing of chargesheet by the NIA, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur had been exonerated while Purohit was not. He said, "Persons with higher and grievous charge were being exonerated while Purohit was not."
"ATS had claimed that Purohit had procured RDX for Malegaon blast of 2008 in 2003 from Kashmir. This is unthinkable. Purohit was an intelligence officer. His job was not to handle the RDX at all. It was done by a different unit which has the specialisation of recovering RDX and disposing it. His job was only to get intelligence reports. Every bit of RDX is accounted for and RTI shows that," said Shivde.
Shivde will argue on Wednesday as well while the NIA and the victims of Malegaon, who are opposing the bail, are still to argue their case.
Also read: Uttar Pradesh Assembly election: Malegaon blast accused gets court nod to campaign in UP