A retired Army man on Wednesday became the 20th prosecution witness to turn hostile in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. The witness, who held the post of `naik' in the Army, had given a statement to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in 2009 about a "camp" (allegedly organized by some of the accused) at Deolali near Nashik. He had seen two of the accused, Lt Colonel Prasad Purohit and Sudhakar Chaturvedi, attending the camp, he had told the ATS which was then probing the case. The probe was later taken over by the National Investigation Agency.
During his deposition on Wednesday before special NIA court judge P R Sitre, the witness failed to recognize Purohit who was present. He also denied giving any statement to the ATS. Following this, the court declared him hostile to the prosecution's request. A witness presented by the probe agency is declared hostile when he or she does not support the prosecution's case in court. Six people were killed and over 100 injured after an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque at Malegaon in north Maharashtra, about 200 kilometers from Mumbai, on September 29, 2008.
The BJP’s Bhopal MP Pragya Singh Thakur is a prime accused in the case. As many as 245 witnesses have been examined in the case, of which 20 have turned hostile until now. The other accused in the case are Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, and Sameer Kulkarni. All the accused are out on bail.
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