2008 Malegaon Blast Case: Defence Claims SIMI Involvement As Pragya Thakur Maintains Innocence In Court

Mumbai: The 2008 Malegaon blast could have been carried out by the banned Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the lawyer of prime accused and BJP leader Pragya Thakur argued before a special court on Thursday.

Defence lawyer JP Mishra made the statement while submitting final arguments for Thakur claiming that she is innocent and falsely implicated in the case.

Mishra argued that in cases of explosions or similar incidents, people generally assist the police. However, in this case, immediately after the incident, a large crowd gathered at the scene and began pelting stones at the policemen, obstructing their access to the blast site. The defense suggested that this might have been done to aid members of SIMI, who could have been responsible for the blast.

Further, Mishra said that a SIMI office was located near the blast site where bombs were allegedly made, and they could be transporting explosives using the two-wheeler when there was an accidental explosion, the lawyer argued. The investigators had claimed that the motorcycle belonged to Thakur.

With this Mishra concluded his arguments for the day and would continue his arguments on Friday.

A powerful blast shook Malegaon in September 2008, killing six and injuring 101 others. The probe was initiated by the Anti-Terrorism Squad and was later transferred to the National Investigation Agency.

The agencies charged Prasad Purohit, BJP leader Pragya Thakur, Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for conspiracy, murder and other relevant charges.