Mumbai: A witness of the Malegaon Blast in Maharashtra has stated during the hearing that he was pressurized to take Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s name. Witness has alleged in the court that the Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) tortured him and forcibly asked him to take the name of Yogi Adityanath. He says that the agency’s crooked eyes were also on some leaders of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He was also forced to take his name.
In September 2008, six people were killed in an explosion near a mosque in Malegaon. About a hundred people were also injured in the incident. Investigation revealed that the blast was caused by explosives kept in a motorcycle near the mosque. The initial investigation in the matter was done by the ATS. But three years later in 2011, the case was handed over to the NIA. Now the special court of NIA is hearing the case. BJP MP from Bhopal Pragya Thakur is also an accused in this. The names of Lt Col Purohit, Major (Retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Dwivedi and Sameer Kulkarni were also included.
So far 220 people have testified in the case. 15 witnesses have turned hostile.
At present, another witness, refuting his earlier statement, alleged that the ATS had wrongfully kept him for seven days. He was tortured during this. Threats were also made to implicate his family. The witness said that the ATS had forced him to name the then Gorakhpur MP Yogi Adityanath, besides the RSS’s Indresh Kumar, Deodhar and Kakaji. The witness said this in a special NIA court in Mumbai on Tuesday.
The witness who gave statement against Col Purohit, accused in the blast case, has also turned hostile. His testimony took place in August this year. At present, most of the accused are out on bail. Sadhvi Pragya has also become an MP by contesting elections from Bhopal after coming out of jail. Purohit is also out now. The special thing is that the allegation of the witness has come at a time when elections are to be held in UP and the opposition parties are constantly alleging that the BJP wants to take advantage of the UP elections by Hindu-Muslim.
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