MUMBAI: Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit, an accused within the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, advised the Bombay Excessive Courtroom Monday that he was “an unsung” hero of the Indian Military, who had suffered a lot throughout almost 9 years he spent in jail as an undertrial earlier than being launched on bail.
Senior advocate Shrikant Shivade, who appeared for Purohit, urged a bench of Justices SS Shinde and NJ Jamadar to direct the particular NIA courtroom within the metropolis to determine his grievance on the problem of prior sanction for prosecution on the earliest.
Via a bunch of pleas filed within the HC, Purohit has sought that every one fees towards him within the case be dropped.
He has additionally maintained that the alleged acts of conspiracy dedicated by him have been in discharge of his duties as an officer of the Military, and due to this fact, the probe company NIA ought to have obtained prior sanction of the central authorities to prosecute him.
There exist earlier orders of the HC and the Supreme Courtroom saying that Purohit’s grievance on the problem of sanction can be thought-about by the NIA courtroom on the time of trial.
Nevertheless, on Monday, Shivade advised the HC that since trial within the case had already begun, the NIA courtroom have to be directed to determine the problem of sanction now as a substitute of ready until the conclusion of the trial.
He mentioned there have been 500-odd witnesses within the case and solely 181 of them had been examined earlier than the NIA courtroom to this point.
The trial, due to this fact, will take a protracted whereas to conclude, Shivade advised the HC. “I’ve spent 9 years in jail and have suffered so much. Although I’ve been reinstated in service, that is an exception since, I’ve an excellent file,” Shivade mentioned on behalf of Purohit.
“I’m an unsung hero of the Indian Military. Let the trial courtroom determine on the problem of sanction now,” he mentioned.
NIA counsel Sandesh Patil, nevertheless, opposed Shivade’s submissions. He mentioned fees within the case had been framed and trial had already begun. “Proof is being led. Let him (Purohit) look forward to his flip,” Patil advised the HC.
Purohit has maintained that whereas he has been charged by the NIA underneath anti-terrorism legal guidelines, by assembly with different accused individuals and taking part in conspiracy conferences associated to the case, he had merely been amassing data and passing it on to the Military. Purohit was arrested within the case in 2009 and granted bail by the SC in 2017.
Six folks have been killed and 100 others injured when a bomb strapped to a motorbike went off close to a mosque in Malegaon city of Nashik district on September 29, 2008.
As per the NIA, the motorcycle belonged to Purohit’s co-accused and BJP Lok Sabha MP Pragya Singh Thakur, who has denied the cost up to now. The HC will proceed listening to the arguments within the case later this month.
