NIA acted like ‘shield’ to Malegaon case accused Sadhvi, says Salian

“The prosecution did not oppose the bail of Sadhvi.. they acted like a defence lawyer. It is against the rule of law,” she said, adding, “in fact, it was the intervener (family member of blast victim), who acted like prosecution and argued the case against grant of bail (to Sadhvi).” 

The special NIA court on had June 28 rejected the bail of Sadhvi, virtually questioning NIA’s clean chit and observed that there were reasonable grounds to believe that the charges against her are prima facie true.

She also said that if the NIA cannot handle the matter properly then it should hand over the case back to ATS, which was the original investigating agency.

“If they are finding it too hot to handle then they can hand over the matter back to ATS. There is a provision in the NIA Act to that effect. What had NIA done since 2011,” Salian asked.

She said that just casting aspersions on ATS and maligning the name of investigating officers creates doubt (on NIA’s work).

Hitting out at the NIA for the charge sheet that it filed revoking charges under MCOCA, Salian said that there is no additional material in it.

 “It is not a charge sheet...they have not investigated the case but the role of the ATS investigating officers,” Salian added.