Malegaon Blast Case: Asaduddin Owaisi slams Sadhvi Pragya's acquittal, ‘shoddy' probe — ‘made terror accused an MP'
He held "deliberately shoddy investigation/prosecution" responsible for the acquittal of the seven accused, including Sadhvi Pragya.
"The Malegaon blast case verdict is disappointing. Six namazis were killed in the blast and nearly 100 were injured. They were targeted for their religion. A deliberately shoddy investigation/prosecution is responsible for the acquittal," Owaisi posted on X.
He asked if the Centre and the Maharashtra government would "appeal the judgement the way they swiftly demanded stay in the Mumbai train blasts acquittals."
"17 years after the blast, the Court has acquitted all of the accused for lack of evidence...Will Maharashtra's 'secular' political parties demand accountability? Who killed the 6 people?" Owaisi said.
He went on to allege that in 2016, "the then prosecutor in the case Rohini Salian went on record to say that NIA had asked her to 'go soft' on the accused."
"Remember, in 2017, NIA had tried to get Sadhvi Pragya acquitted. The same person would go on to be a BJP MP in 2019," Owaisi said.
The AIMIM MP further noted that "Karkare had uncovered the conspiracy in Malegaon & was unfortunately killed by Pakistani terrorists in the 26/11 attacks. The BJP MP went on record saying that she had cursed him and his death was a consequence of his curse."
"Will NIA/ATS officers be held accountable for their faulty investigation? I think we know the answer. This is the 'tough on terror' Modi government. The world will remember that it made a terror accused a Member of Parliament," Owaisi said.
On September 29 2008, six people were killed and 95 others injured when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle detonated near a mosque in Malegaon City's Bhikku Chowk.
Originally, 11 people were accused in the case; however, the court ultimately framed charges against seven, including former MP Sadhvi Pragya.
While acquitting seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case on Thursday, the special NIA court observed mere suspicion cannot replace real proof and that there was no cogent or reliable evidence to warrant conviction.
'No religion teaches violence, the court said. Terrorism has no religion, but the court cannot convict on mere perception,' it observed.
Earlier, the Bombay High Court had acquitted all the 12 accused in the 7/11 2006 Mumbai train blast case, saying the prosecution utterly failed to prove the case and it was "hard to believe the accused committed the crime".
The Supreme Court had later stayed the Bombay High Court's judgement on a plea filed by the Maharashtra government. A bench of Justices MM Sundresh and N Kotiswar Singh clarified that the stay order would not affect the accused persons' release from jail.
During the hearing, the Solicitor General of India (SGI) Tushar Mehta, appearing for Maharashtra, had sought a stay of the Bombay High Court judgement by contending that certain findings of the said verdict will affect other cases being probed by Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
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