2008 Malegaon blast case: Witness accuses Maharashtra ATS of forcing him to name 5 RSS members, UP CM Yogi Adityanath

The ATS had filed a 5 page statement of the witness, in 2009, to which the Witness told the court that he only knows that a statement is recorded in his name by ATS but in reality he never gave any such statement. The ATS statement mentioned that the witness was a trustee of the Abhinav Bharat trust, founded in 2006 along with Lt. Colonel Prasad Purohit and Ajay Rahirkar, who are among the 7 accused in the case. According to the ATS and NIA the trust was used in the conspiracy for the Malegaon blast.

A witness in the 2008 Malegaon blast case on Tuesday told the special NIA court that Maharashtra ATS forced him to take the names of 5 RSS members and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath. The witness also told the special NIA court that he was illegally detained by ATS for seven days.

The ATS had filed a 5 page statement of the witness, in 2009, to which the Witness told the court that he only knows that a statement is recorded in his name by ATS but in reality he never gave any such statement. The ATS statement mentioned that the witness was a trustee of the Abhinav Bharat trust, founded in 2006 along with Lt. Colonel Prasad Purohit and Ajay Rahirkar, who are among the 7 accused in the case. According to the ATS and NIA the trust was used in the conspiracy for the Malegaon blast. However, the witness agreed that he was one of the trustees of the trust but the trust was just involved in giving training to youth for making entry into the defence forces.

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With regard to his illegal detention the witness told the court that in the 2008 Malegaon case he was summoned by the ATS, and was illegally detained by the ATS for 7 days, later he faced interrogation for 1.5 months.  He also added that he was unaware of the fact that the police are not allowed to keep any person in their custody for seven days without a court order.

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He further said that ATS officers asked him to take the names of 5 RSS members in the Malegaon case. And later, during cross questioning, he mentioned those five names. “I was told that you will be made an accused if you do not take the names. The names were that of Yogi Adityanath, Aseemanand, Indresh Kumar, one professor Deodhar and one Kakaji,” he said. He also added that the  ATS said to him that they had already plotted the story and just wanted those 5 RSS members to fit in.  He also said that he was asked to say something about Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in the case. However, the statement presented by ATS as a part of the chargesheet does not mention any of the 5 names.

When asked to take the name of the officers involved at that time, the witness took the names of API Chavan and ATS officials DCP Shrirao and IPS officer Param Bir Singh.

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“I was threatened by ATS officers Param Bir Singh and DCP Shrirao who were then posted with Maharashtra ATS. They told me their story was ready and that I had to only take the names of certain people. They even threatened me that if I didn’t take the said names, I would have to face the consequences," he said.   

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The Malegaon blast happened on September 29, 2008 when an explosive device allegedly fitted to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon in which 6 people were killed and over 100 were injured. According to the initial probe, the motorcycle was registered in Pragya Thakur's name which led to her arrest.
 

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