The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has defended Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, who was freed of all charges by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.
“I have been saying for long that Pragya Singh Thakur has been framed,” said BJP MP and national spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi. She added that a proper investigation should be conducted on the in the case and the cumbersome time that “Sadhvi Pragya had faced all these days.”
The NIA on Friday dropped all charges against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and five others in the Malegaon blast case, while charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) law have been given up against all the other 10 accused, including Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit.
The NIA said, “Sufficient evidences have not been found against Pragya Singh Thakur and five others”. The agency has also submitted in the charge-sheet in the Mumbai high court saying that, “the prosecution against them is not maintainable”.
The blasts during Ramzan on September 29, 2008, claimed the lives of seven people, while many were injured. Shiv Narayan Kalsangra, Shyam Bhavarlal Sahu, Praveen Takkalki, Lokesh Sharma and Dhan Singh Choudhury are the five others against whom the charges have been dropped besides Sadhvi.“In furtherance of the same, the confessional statements recorded under provisions of MCOCA by ATS Mumbai have not been relied upon by the NIA in submitting the present Final report,” the agency said in its charge-sheet.
Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh attacked the NDA government. “The Central government wanted to save Malegaon (blast case) accused as they have connections with them,” he said. He added, “Even Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) wants to save the people involved in terror activities.”
However, the BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi rubbished the allegation levelled by Singh and said, “It is a political conspiracy. Whether it is Malegaon or the Samjhauta Express case, there are some people who are always ready to conspire against our government and target the BJP and the RSS for all mishaps.” She said: “These people are anti-nationals”.