Malegaon Blast Case: Pragya Thakur Hospitalised, Fails to Appear Before Court

Her lawyer told the court that she is suffering from high blood pressure and is unable to travel from Bhopal to Mumbai.

Bhopal: Ahead of hearing in 2008 Malegaon blast case, the newly-elected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur failed to appear before a court in Mumbai on June 6- for the second time this week.

Her lawyer told the court that she is suffering from high blood pressure and is unable to travel from Bhopal to Mumbai.

Thakur was hospitalised for a stomach ailment in Bhopal on June 5 night and discharged early on June 6, her close aide Upma told PTI, adding the BJP MP would return to the hospital after attending an event in Bhopal.

Notably, Pragya Thakur was scheduled to appear before the Special National Investigative Agency (NIA) court on Thursday for hearing in 2008 Malegaon blast case – for which her exemption from attendance plea was rejected earlier.

Pragya Thakur had sought the exemption claiming that she needed to fulfil certain formalities in light of her election as a Lok Sabha Member of Parliament. The court on Tuesday rejected her application, and directed her to appear for the hearings at least once a week.

The BJP MP, along with six others, are accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast that killed eight and injured nearly 100 people – have been instructed by the court to appear for proceedings of the case at least once a week.

Pragya Thakur was in jail for nine years in this case and is presently out on bail. Meanwhile, the proceedings of the case are carried out on a daily basis. Till now, 116 witnesses have been examined by the court.

The accused have been charged under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Earlier in April, the NIA Court had rejected an application filed by the father of one of the victims of the blasts seeking to restrain Pragya Thakur from contesting the Lok Sabha Elections 2019.