The Supreme Court on Friday refused to hear a petition filed by Malegaon blasts accused Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit seeking a stay on the National Investigation Agency (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.
A Bench of Justice S.A. Bobde and Arun Mishra asked Purohit to approach the High Court concerned and allowed him to withdraw.
The petition, filed by advocate Neela Gokhale, contended that the investigation in the 2008 blasts case was transferred from the ATS to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2011.
In 2015, the Supreme Court itself observed that there was nothing on record to indicate Purohit’s involvement in offences booked under the draconian Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. The NIA, since taking over the probe in the case, is yet to file a charge sheet.
Purohit asks how the NIA court can now start framing charges against him based on a charge sheet filed in 2009 by the ATS, which has had no role ever since the case was transferred to the NIA.
He asked the Supreme Court to direct the trial court to frame charges only after the NIA places on record its status report on its probe.
“During this entire period of almost six years, from the date of assuming jurisdiction to investigate the matter, the NIA has not filed a single application seeking extension of period of 180 days which period has long expired, nor has the NIA filed a single report of the progress in the investigation. Hence till date, the investigation remains incomplete and the petitioner and others remained in detention without commencement of trial,” the petition alleged.
He alleged that the intention behind transferring his case to the NIA was to implicate him in other blast cases “including but not limited to the Samjhauta Blast case, etc”.
