‘I Don’t Know Anything About Malegaon Blast’, Pragya Thakur Tells Court

On June 6, Thakur's lawyer told the court that she is suffering from high BP and is unable to travel to Mumbai from Bhopal.

New Delhi: Newly elected BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur on Friday appeared before a special NIA court in Mumbai and said that she does know anything 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case.

When the Special NIA Judge V S Padalkar asked Pragya Thakur if she knew or did her lawyer inform her about how many witnesses have been examined by the prosecution till now, she replied, ‘I don’t know.’

When the Judge asked Pragya Thakur, ‘All the witnesses who have been examined till now, it has transpired that there was a blast on September 29, 2008 in which several people died. What do you have to say?’ The Bhopal MP said, ‘I don’t know.’

After being elected to Lok Sabha from Bhopal last month, it was Thakur’s first appearance before the NIA court, which is conducting trial in the 11-year-old case.

The last time she had shown up in the court was during framing of charges in the case in October last year. Special Padalkar had last month directed all the seven accused, including Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, to appear before the court at least once a week. Total seven persons are facing trial in the case.

The accused are facing trial under various sections of the UAPA, the Indian Penal Code and the Explosive Substances Act. They have been charged under UAPA sections 16 (committing terrorist act) and 18 (conspiring to commit terrorist act). They are also facing charges under IPC sections 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 153(a) (promoting enmity between two religious groups).