Amidst the NIA giving clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and other accused and the accused seeking bail in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, an application has been filed in the special NIA court se
Amidst the NIA giving clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and other accused and the accused seeking bail in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, an application has been filed in the special NIA court seeking registration of FIR against unknown public servants, who were responsible for protecting and keeping court records, for causing the disappearance of important witness statements.
It is argued in the bail plea that the applicants are aggrieved by the disappearance of statements of seven witnesses recorded by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) before the judicial magistrate under section 164 of CrPC from custody of NIA court.
“The applicants are also aggrieved that the NIA took no efforts for reconstruction of the said seven missing statements, but recorded two fresh statements under the pretext of further investigation, of the two witnesses, in which they turned hostile,” read the application. The applicants have alleged that this is an act of tampering with the witnesses by the NIA officers prior to examining them before the court.
The applicants have further contended that the said seven statements as recorded before the magistrate through the ATS are evidences produced in judicial proceeding. The bail application further said that it is not possible for the seven witnesses (including the two witness who did turn hostile) to turn hostile or to give false evidence before the NIA special court during trial, as the same would amount to ‘perjury’. “It is for this court to examine if the said statements were recorded by the magistrate under coercion or force,” the application added.
