Nasik, Nov 17: The judicial remand of Sadhvi Pragya
Thakur Singh, suspected key conspirator, and seven other
accused in the Malegaon blast case was today extended till
November 29 by a local court which rejected Gujarat police's
plea for interrogation of nine accused.
The ATS, which produced the eight arrested persons in
the case before the jam-packed court of Additional Judge H K
Ganatra, sought extension of their judicial remand stating
that they needed to be further questioned.
Special counsel for ATS Ajay Misar said since
investigation into the blast was still on, the judicial remand
of the accused should be extended.
The Gujarat police represented by Deputy Superintendent
of Police K K Mysorewala sought the court's permission for
interrogation of nine of the ten accused, but permission was
not granted.
Sadhvi Pragya's lawyer filed an application before the
court alleging that the ATS had subjected her to acute mental
and physical torture.
The Sadhvi asked the court to provide her the Hindi
translation of the submission made by her lawyers, which was
in English, as she could not understand it. "Mujhe maloom
nahin mera kasoor kya hai (I do not know what is my crime),"
she told the court.
The Sadhvi, Abhinav Bharart member Samir Kulkarni and
former Army officer Ramesh Upadhyay, along with five other
accused, were produced amid high security.
Pragya was arrested by the Maharashtra ATS from Surat in
Gujarat for her alleged role in the Malegaon Blast which
killed six and injured over 80.
The prosecution contended that the Sadhvi had
a long conversation with one of the main accused, Ramji,
shortly after the September 29 blast in Malegaon on the basis
of which she was arrested by the ATS.
The Sadhvi had asked Ramji whether police have seized
her motorcycle used in the blast and why less people had been
killed in the blasts, the prosecution argued.
Her lawyer who had filed the application on her behalf
in English sought the court's permission to translate the same
in Hindi saying she did not understand the language.
Dozens of Shiv Sena activists had gathered outside the
court shouting in support of the Sadhvi.
The investigation into the case came under media and
public scrutiny after a serving Army officer Lt Col S P
Purohit and certain Hindu religious leaders were arrested in
this connection with the blast case.
With assembly elections in some big states just around
the corner, the case has also acquired political colour with
the BJP and the Sangh Parivar calling the arrests of the Hindu
leaders as "inspired by political motives".
The Congress on the other hand has maintained that the
law should take its own course.
Maharshtra Director General of Police A N Roy had earlier
said that "at least three persons are still wanted in the
Malegaon blast case.
Another accused in the case, Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay
told the court that he was not allowed to send letters to his
family members in Pune seeking legal help.
He also accused the ATS of not providing him certain
facilities, applicable under the jail rules.
Court scene
A Magistrate's Court premises in Nasik
today turned into a virtual saffron camp as it was thronged by
activists of Shiv Sena and BJP who shouted slogans in support
of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and others accused in the Malegaon
blast case.
Security personnel in strength were deployed as the ATS
produced the eight arrested persons in the court for extension
of their judicial custody.
As the blue Police van carrying Sadhvi and others neared
the court, entire police arrangement went haywire. Hundreds of
Shiv Sena and BJP workers surrounded the van and raised
slogans in support of the accused.
Throughout the hearing, the Hindi and Marathi slogans
--"Pragya Thakur tum age badho hum tumhare saath hain
(Pragya Thakur you march ahead, we are with you)"-- kept
reverberating in the court.
"She has been wrongly accused in the blast case to defame
the Hindus. Sadhvi symbolises Hindu women and her arrest is an
attack on our mothers and sisters," said a Shiv Sainik
protester.
With a large team of electronic media present there, the
activists become more agitated as the cameras were focused on
them.
Outside the court, posters of Shiv Sena supremo Bal
Thackerey, its president Uddhav Thackerey and BJP stalwarts--
former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and leader of
opposition Lal Krishna Advani-- came up in support of Sadhvi.
Many other posters of saffron brigade leaders were pasted
on the walls in the area surrounding the court.
BJP leaders in their campaigns have repeatedly issued
statements about the motives of the ATS in arresting Sadhvi.
BJP President Rajnath Singh had in one of the election
campaigns said that the entire case was politically motivated.
"I have not seen so much activity in the court in the
recent past. Whatever be the case but I feel she (Pragya) has
been wrongly implicated by the Congress government. How can a
Sadhvi plan a bombing?," a beetle-leaf(pan) shop owner said.
Hindu Mahasabha protests
Activists of Akhil Bhartiya Hindu
Mahasabha in Uttar Pradesh today staged a demonstration here
in support of Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh
Thakur and demanded a probe into role of Maharashtra ATS in
the entire episode.
The demonstrators alleged the way in which cases were
being framed by Maharashtra ATS against Pragya and military
officer S P Purohit shows that their was politics involved in
it.
"We demand a probe into role of Maharashtra ATS and its
chief Hemant Karkare", Raj Kumar Tyagi, state General
Secertary of Mahasabha said.
"After a number of NARCO tests, the ATS could not find
anything concrete in the case", he said.
Bureau Report