Rohini Salian, former special public prosecutor in the Malegaon 2008 blast case has, in an affidavit, named the National Investigating Agency (NIA) officer, who allegedly asked her to “go soft” in the case.
“I say that as I am told a criminal contempt petition is filed before this Hon’ble court and in administration of justice, as an officer of the Hon’ble court, I am disclosing the name of NIA officer, who had tried to interfere with the delivery of administration of justice, as a messenger. His name is Shri Suhas Warke, SP, NIA, Mumbai branch,” she said in her affidavit dated July 28, 2015.
Mr. Warke, a 2002 IPS officer of the Maharashtra cadre, was the former NIA SP at Mumbai Branch. In March this year, he was promoted as DIG NIA and posted at the Guwahati Branch.
In June this year, Ms. Salian made the shocking revelation that the NIA, probing the Malegaon case involving Hindu extremists, told her to go soft after the new government took over at the Centre. However, she had not revealed the name of the officer at that time.
“An NIA officer approached me immediately after the change of government and told me in person to go soft. On June 12, he approached me for the second time and said I would no longer be appearing in the case,” Ms. Salian had told reporters in June following her interview to a news daily.
In her affidavit, she has reiterated her statements about the NIA. “I have stated on June 12 that the same officer came and had said that there are instructions from higher ups, that someone else will appear instead of me in the said case.”
The affidavit was filed before the Bombay High Court and forwarded to the Supreme Court in response to a criminal contempt petition filed at the High Court by a Mumbai resident Sanjay Lakhe Patil.
The Malegaon 2008 case was the first case in which Hindu extremists, including Lt. Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit and Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Thakur were charge sheeted in 2009 by the Anti-Terrorism Squad.
Meanwhile, a special court of the NIA on Monday rejected the bail applications of Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit and three other accused Rakesh Dhawde, Sudhakar Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey and Ramesh Upadhyay.
