Another witness in the 2008 Malegaon blast case on Wednesday retracted his previously issued statement and has refused to recognise one of the accused, Prasad Purohit, in court. He also said that he never gave a statement to Mumbai ATS.
The next hearing in the case will be on March 31. As many as 20 witnesses have turned hostile in the case so far.
Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) Chief Vineet Agarwal said calling it an improper investigation is not the correct conjecture as witnesses turn hostile in many cases.
However, the ATS chief believes that such a thing will impact the prosecution negatively.
A Witness is said to ‘turn hostile’ when they stop/refuse to speak in favour of the prosecution (against the accused). This might impact the case negatively or make one side weaker in some cases, depending on the nature and requirements of the witness and case.
2008 Malegaon blast case
On September 29, 2008, six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a communally sensitive town in north Maharashtra’s Nashik district.
The accused in the case include BJP MP from Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, Sudhakar Diwedi, Major Ramesh Upadhyay (retired), Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, and Sameer Kulkarni.
