National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday opposed the bail plea of 2008 Malegaon blasts accused Sadhvi Pragyasingh Thakur on the grounds that “there is serious incriminating evidence against her.”
“There are reasonable grounds prima facie to believe that she is guilty of the offences which are levelled against her as contemplated under section 21(4) of MCOC [Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime] Act,” the NIA said in its reply filed before the special MCOCA court here.
The NIA has not yet filed a supplementary charge sheet in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, after it took over the investigation from the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). The ATS filed a charge sheet against the accused in 2009.
Toeing the line of investigation by the ATS, the NIA said in its reply that it was Sadhvi, a prime accused who arranged the meetings in which the other accused decided the strategy of the blasts. Citing evidence against her, the NIA also said that she took the responsibility of providing men for planting the bombs.
The detailed 74-page reply of the NIA has relied on the statements of at least 47 witnesses, confessional statements of some of the accused, transcripts of SMSs, and intercepted conversations of the accused, among other things.
The reply refuted the claim made by Sadhvi in her bail plea filed in November 2011 that there was no concrete evidence against her.
