NIA court issues warrant against ATS officer in Malegaon blast case

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai on Wednesday issued a bailable warrant against an officer of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) for not appearing before it in connection with the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

He is the second ATS officer against whom the warrant has been issued for not appearing before the court.

The officer against whom the court issued the warrant on Wednesday had recorded statements of different witnesses, of whom some turned hostile, a government lawyer said.

Hence, his presence was required before the court, the lawyer said.

The court was told that the officer was unwell and therefore he could not come to the court, the government lawyer said.

Special judge A K Lahoti, who is presiding over the case, issued the warrant against him.

Earlier, the special NIA court in September issued a bailable warrant against another ATS officer, who had arrested a few accused in the case and recorded some statements. He is also a witness in the case.

More than 280 witnesses have been examined in the case so far and 29 of them have turned hostile.

Six people were killed and more than 100 injured on September 29, 2008, after an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque at Malegaon town in Nashik district, located about 200 km from Mumbai.

The accused in the case include BJP Lok Sabha member Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Purohit, Shudakar Dwivedi, Major Ramesh Upadhyay (retired), Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni, all of whom are out on bail.