2008 Malegaon blast case: Prosecutor claims NIA told her to go soft on right wing extremists

MumbaiNew DelhiKicking up a controversy the Special Public Prosecutor SPP in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case in which some Hindu extremists are accused today alleged that the National Investigation Agency NIA had asked her to go soft on the accused after the Narendra Modi government assumed power in May last yearAn NIA officer called me up and said he wanted to meet me He then met me some time last year and asked me to go soft on the accused in this case claimed Rohini Salian who is the SPP in the caseShe said the officer who she declined to name hadapparently got instructions from higherups to convey this toher Salian told reporters in MumbaiAgain on June 12 this year the same officer met meand conveyed orally that I was to be replaced by some otherlawyer in this case I told him to settle my bills anddenotify me as a prosecutor in this case However till dateneither a notification has been issued about my replacementwith some other lawyer nor my bills settled the prosecutorsaidIn Delhi NIA came out with a twopage clarificationdenying that any officer of the agency had given aninappropriate briefing to her It also refuted her charge ofcreating impediments in her prosecution work of NIA cases shehas been handlingNIA however confirmed that its Mumbai branch had througha letter of June 16 recommended denotifying three SpecialPublic Prosecutors including her Recommendation of thebranch has reached the Head office and the matter is underprocess it saidDubbing it as undeclared Emergency Congress demandedremoval of NIA DG and launched a sharp attack on the Modigovernment over Salians remarks that she was under pressurefrom NIA to go soft in the Malegaon caseParty spokesperson Ajay Maken demanded that the NIA probebe monitored by the Supreme Court or High Court henceforth asCongress has no faith in the ongoing investigations by theagency under the Home MinistrySalian said she had raised a dispute with NIA over herremuneration While the NIA was ready to pay her fees on parwith what CBI prosecutors get she had refused to acceptthis saying she should be paid more as done by the NIA in thepastThe 68yearold lawyer said she had appeared for NIA intwo cases One was the fake currency case in which sixaccused have been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonmentby a special court Their appeals are pending in the BombayHigh Court The other case is the 2008 Malegaon bomb blastNIA said the Malegaon blast case has not yet reached thetrial stage Therefore it is incorrect to infer that MsSalian was being bypassed for court appearances it saidIn the 2008 Malegaon blast case 12 persons includingSadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Colonel Prasad ShrikantPurohit were arrested Of these 12 four are on bailThe NIA took over the case in 2011 and later three moreaccused were arrested However they were granted bail in thecase by default as charge sheet was not filed against themThe Malegaon blast on September 29 2008 killed fourpersons and injured another 79 Investigations initiallycast suspicion on the involvement of minority community inthe incident However the probe under late Hemant Karkarethe then ATS Chief suspected the involvement of right wingextremists and arrested Sadhvi Thakur and othersA lawyer of 25 years standing Salian is also aprosecutor in Mulund bomb blast case in which three cases areclubbed together and 2002 Ghatkopar bomb blast case She hasalso appeared in some high profile TADA cases and MCOCA casesSalian who hails from Mangalore in Karnataka has alsoserved as the Chief Public Prosecutor in Mumbai for close tofive years in the past She was also the public prosecutor inthe 1992 JJ hospital shoot out case in which underworld DonDawood Ibrahims aide Subhash Thakur was sentenced to death