2008 Malegaon blast case: Ex-Army officer becomes 34th witness to turn hostile
Mumbai, Apr 5: A former Army captain, a witness in the 2008 Malegaon blast case who had accused the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officials of threatening him to give a statement before a magistrate, on Wednesday turned hostile before a special NIA court here.
He became the 34th prosecution witness to be declared hostile in the case in which Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Bhopal, Pragya Singh Thakur, is one of the key accused.
This witness had filed a complaint with the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission alleging that the state ATS officials threatened him to give a statement before a magistrate.
The witness had earlier given a statement to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that when he first met Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit in 2006, the latter who is one of the accused in the case, had asked the captain to work with him in the Abhinav Bharat organisation.
Later that year, he was invited to a meeting at Purohit's house in Pune. Purohit and an unidentified person had attended the meeting, where there was discussion on the work of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) , the witness had told the NIA.
The discussion in the meeting was that the RSS should do "aggressive and nationalistic work" as it was not doing so and Abhinav Bharat can do that, he had told the probe agency.
The witness had also told the NIA that in 2008, he had attended a meeting on the participation of Abhinav Bharat in politics.
He also took part in a training session arranged by Purohit at Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh in 2008. About 20 youths from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka attended the camp. Other accused Sameer Kulkarni and Sudhakar Chaturvedi were also present there, the witness had told the probe agency.
He said the ATS (which probed the case earlier) at Nashik questioned him about his association with Purohit. They later took him to Mumbai and threatened him to give confession before the magistrate. After that, he had filed a complaint against the ATS officials at the Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission in 2009.
However, during his deposition before the special NIA court judge A K Lahoti on Wednesday, the witness denied giving any statement. The court then declared him hostile.
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 took over. A total of seven accused including Thakur and Colonel Prasad Purohit are facing trial in the case.
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Mumbai-Pune Expressway ‘missing link’ to open on May 1; will improve travel safety: Shinde
Mumbai (PTI): Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday said the long-awaited ‘missing link’ on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway, aimed at bypassing the winding Bhor Ghat section and improving safety, will be inaugurated on May 1.
Shinde, who inspected the project site, said the new stretch will make the expressway fully access-controlled, easing congestion in the hilly section.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is likely to inaugurate the 13.3-km-long missing link, which connects Khopoli on the Mumbai side to Kusgaon near Lonavala, on Maharashtra Day, which is celebrated on May 1, he said.
The deputy CM said that 99 per cent of the project work has been completed. “I personally inspected the quality of work and found it satisfactory. The remaining minor works will be completed in the next few days,” Shinde said.
Shinde said the new alignment will bypass sharp curves and accident-prone stretches in the ghat section, helping reduce delays and improve commuter safety. He claimed accidents in the section would reduce substantially once the project becomes operational.
“The missing link project will make travel between Mumbai and Pune quicker, safer and more convenient, and will contribute significantly to the state’s development,” he said.
The Rs 6,700-crore project, developed by the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC), includes two tunnels, high viaducts and a cable-stayed bridge over Tiger Valley.
The missing link will reduce the travel distance between Mumbai and Pune by approximately 6 km and shorten the journey time by 20 to 30 minutes, said officials.
Initially, only light motor vehicles and buses will be permitted on the new stretch to reduce congestion on the existing ghat section, officials said, adding that heavy goods vehicles will be prohibited due to safety concerns.
“There will be no toll hike because of the missing link project. No increase has been proposed at the Khalapur toll plaza either,” Shinde said.
The project comprises two eight-lane tunnels of 1.75 km and 8.92 km in length and two viaducts measuring 850 metres and 650 metres, said officials. It has been designed to bypass the old Khandala ghat section, a winding route that has long slowed down traffic and posed safety risks, said officials.
The 650-metre viaduct will feature what officials described as India’s tallest road cable-stayed bridge, with pylons rising to 182 metres, taller than those on the Bandra-Worli Sea Link.
Officials claimed that the tunnels have a width of 23.75 metres and are among the widest road tunnels in the world. An MSRDC official said the tunnel is likely to be included in the Guinness Book of Records.
The route runs beneath the Lonavala lake area and was executed in difficult terrain marked by heavy rainfall and strong winds, officials said.
Shinde said projects such as the missing link would boost access to tourist destinations such as Lohagad Fort, Visapur Fort and Karla Caves.
MP Shrirang Barne, former corporator Abasaheb Bagul, MSRDC Managing Director Anilkumar Gaikwad and senior engineers from executing agencies were present during the inspection, officials said.
Krishnamurthy Subramanian, executive chairman of construction and engineering company Afcons International Private Limited, said the journey to completion of “India’s highest road cable-stayed bridge” was challenging.
“The bridge, located in the Sahyadri region, presented extreme challenges, including narrow ridges that left little room for heavy machinery, sudden wind speeds reaching up to 100 kmph, and dense fog reducing visibility to a few metres. Despite these conditions, we are proud to deliver this engineering marvel,” he said.
The expressway, spanning approximately 95 km, holds the distinction of being India's first access-controlled highway.
