2008 Malegaon blast trial: Yet another witness declared hostile by NIA court

He became the 32nd witness to be declared hostile in the case, in which BJP MP from Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur is one of the key accused.

Published: 31st March 2023 07:11 PM  |   Last Updated: 31st March 2023 07:11 PM   |  A+A-

Court Hammer

Image for representational purpose only.

By PTI

MUMBAI: A witness in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, who had allegedly booked a hotel room for the accused days before the incident, turned hostile before a special court here on Friday.

He became the 32nd witness to be declared hostile in the case, in which BJP MP from Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur is one of the key accused.

The witness, who worked at a hotel in Madhya Pradesh's Indore, had in his statement to the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) claimed that he had booked rooms for the accused in the case.

However, during his deposition before special NIA judge A K Lahoti on Friday, the witness said he doesn't remember what he told the probe agency.

Following which, the court declared him hostile.

The court has examined 307 witnesses until now.

Six people were killed and more than 100 injured on September 29, 2008, when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon town in north Maharashtra, some 200 km from Mumbai.

The ATS probed the case initially before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over.

A total of seven accused, including Thakur and Colonel Prasad Purohit, are facing trial in the case.


India Matters

Comments

Disclaimer : We respect your thoughts and views! But we need to be judicious while moderating your comments. All the comments will be moderated by the newindianexpress.com editorial. Abstain from posting comments that are obscene, defamatory or inflammatory, and do not indulge in personal attacks. Try to avoid outside hyperlinks inside the comment. Help us delete comments that do not follow these guidelines.

The views expressed in comments published on newindianexpress.com are those of the comment writers alone. They do not represent the views or opinions of newindianexpress.com or its staff, nor do they represent the views or opinions of The New Indian Express Group, or any entity of, or affiliated with, The New Indian Express Group. newindianexpress.com reserves the right to take any or all comments down at any time.

flipboard facebook twitter whatsapp