NIA did not ask Rohini Salian to go slow in Malegaon blast case: AG

The Central govt has sought two more weeks to respond to the petitions on the issue of the removal of Special Public Prosecutor Rohini Salian (pictured).

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi has rubbished allegations in the Supreme Court that Salian was pressurised by the National Investigation Agency to 'go slow' in the case.

The petition had sought the apex court’s intervention to ensure a fair trial as there were reasons to ‘credibly fear’ that executive is attempting to influence the judicial system to cave in to the pressure exerted by it in all matters, including affording protection to right-wing extremists who sympathise with its ideology.

The Public Interest Litigation also sought direction to the Centre to appoint an SPP to conduct ‘fair’ trial and constitute a special investigating team of the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the alleged actions of the National Investigation Agency officials who allegedly pressurised Salian.

The high-profile accused in the case includes Lt Col S P Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.

The four thousand page charge-sheet had alleged that Malegaon was selected for the blasts because of its sizeable Muslim population. It named Pragya Singh Thakur, Purohit and another accused, Swami Dayanand Pandey, as the key conspirators.

The charge-sheet had alleged it was Pandey who had instructed Purohit to arrange for RDX, while Pragya owned the motorcycle which was used in the blast.

Ajay Rahirkar, another accused, allegedly organised funds for the terror act, while conspiracy meetings were held at BhonsalaMilitarySchool in Nasik, according to charge-sheet.

Rakesh Dhawde, Ramesh Upadhyay, Shyamlal Sahu, Shivnarain Kalsangra, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Jagdish Mhatre and Sameer Kulkarni were the other accused.

The blast on September 29, 2008 had left four dead and nearly 80 injured.