By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Mumbai: Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind has decided to oppose bail of 2008 Malegaon blasts accused Lt. Col. Shrikant Prasad Purohit before Supreme Court.
Gulzar Azmi, Secretary of Jamiat’s legal Cell said here on Sunday, “As per directions of our National President Arshad Madani sahib we have decided to oppose bail application of Purohit and have asked our legal cell to draft application to be filed in this regard before Supreme Court.”
File photo of Gulzar Azmi, Secretary of Jamiat-e-Ulama’s Legal Cell
This is not the first time that Jamiat has decided to oppose bail of any accused. Recently it has appeared as an ‘intervener ‘ before Bombay High Court to oppose bail of Dhananjay Desai the prime accused in the brutal killing of a tech savvy Muhsin Shaikh in Pune on June 2, 2014.
As for opposing bail of Purohit, a Supreme Court Adv. Irshad Hanif is expected to file an application on behalf of Jamiat for intervention in the bail proceedings on next hearing before the Supreme Court.
National Investigating Agency (NIA) too has decided to oppose the bail sought by Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt. Col. Purohit.
“We are opposing the bail plea as we want further custody of the accused,” A Mariaputham, counsel for the NIA had told the Supreme Court.
Ever since transfer of the case to NIA from Maharashtra ATS in 2011, the agency wants to grill accused in the case but as accused have challenged custodial interrogation by NIA, the matter is long pending before the Supreme Court.
The NIA is arguing before the Supreme Court that they would want to question the accused and hence they ought to be granted custody of the two accused in the interest of investigating the case.
On September 29, 2008, three blasts ripped through textile town Malegaon in Maharashtra killing seven persons. Initially Muslim outfit was suspected for the attack but the investigation headed by late ATS chief Hemant Karkare concluded that the Muslim outfit was wrongly implicated and it was the handiwork of a right wing group affiliated with organization ‘Abhinav Bharat’ which had carried out the blasts.
It was alleged that Lt Col. Purohit had supplied RDX to other accused in the case to make bombs. Purohit however disputed the claim before court stating he was doing his job as a military intelligence officer and was trying to infiltrate the radical outfit. Reportedly his peers do not agree with Purohit and claims they were not kept in the loop by Purohit.