New Delhi : The Supreme Court asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to file a chargesheet against Lt. Col Srikant Purohit on Friday .Purohit is a former military intelligence officer and one of the accused of 2008 Malegaon blasts case which killed 37 people and injured more than 125.
Earlier in the day the NIA court had filed a compliance report before the Supreme Court stating that a chargesheet has not been filed in this matter and hence a trial has not begun. The apex court then directed the NIA to file a chargesheet swiftly.
At the sametime the Supreme Court declined the request for Purohit’s release made by his lawyer on the basis of delay in filing the chargesheet. Purohit’s lawyer had already been asked to approach the High Court for the same.
On the same day, the Supreme Court refused a second petition by Purohit in which he had sought a stay on the NIA court proceedings to frame charges against him on the basis of a charge sheet filed by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra in 2009.
In September 2015, Purohit’s councel Shrikant Shivde had requested the court for in-camera proceedings on the ground that there was fear of the proceedings being ‘misrepresented’ or ‘quoted out of context’. NIA did not have objection to the application.
12 alleged ‘Hindu extremists’, including Lt. Col. Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, had been chargesheeted by the state ATS in the case.