Fresh warrant issued against Pragya Thakur as she fails to appear before court

Mumbai, Nov 13 A special court here on Wednesday issued a fresh bailable warrant against former BJP MP Pragya Thakur, who is the prime accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

This was the second warrant issued within two weeks against Thakur by the special court for National Investigation Agency (NIA) cases. Before it, a bailable warrant was issued on November 5 and she was asked to be present in court on November 13.

However, she failed to appear before the court citing health issues. Thakur's advocate J. P. Mishra told the court that she could not appear as she was undergoing treatment at a hospital in Bhopal.

Mishra also submitted related medical records of Thakur during the hearing on Wednesday, following which, the court issued a fresh bailable warrant of Rs 10,000 and directed her to remain present in the court on December 2.

Earlier on November 5, Thakur posted her photograph on social media, stating, "If I remain alive, I will go to court." In her social media posts, Thakur has also accused Congress of implicating her in a false case.

The former MP in October last year broke down while recording her statement before the Special NIA Court, according to her lawyers.

Thakur was posed around five dozen questions pertaining to the testimonies of the medicos who had treated the injured and conducted the post-mortems of the dead victims of the blast case, but she replied in the negative to the queries.

Six people were killed and more than 100 injured when an explosive device attached to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon in Maharashtra about 200 km from Mumbai, on September 29, 2008.

Thakur, Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit and five others are on trial in the case for their alleged involvement in the blast conspiracy.

Source: IANS