Mumbai: The special court conducting the trial in the 2008 Malegaon blast trial issued a bailable warrant on Wednesday against an Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officer for not remaining present before it for the second time after summons were issued.
The officer had recorded statements of some witnesses who had been declared hostile after they refuted the recording of the statement or refuted facts in it as having been stated by them. Special Public Prosecutor Avinash Rasal informed the court on Wednesday that the officer has been unwell for the past year and will come to testify when he gets better. The court issued a bailable warrant against the officer after defence advocates insisted on the same.
29 witnesses declared hostile
Till date, as many as 29 witnesses have been declared hostile in the trial of the over 280 who have deposed. This is the second ATS officer against whom such a warrant has been issued for not remaining present.
On Tuesday, a former colleague of accused Prasad Purohit who had served in the military intelligence in Nashik's Deolali unit was declared hostile. His statement had contained mentions of Mr Purohit and accused Sudhakar Chaturvedi. In court, he denied parts of it. He had also denied knowledge of a part of the statement in which he had described the physical appearance of a person who had visited the camp in Nashik in the first week of Sep 2008 a couple of times. As per the prosecution's case, the person was discharged accused Rakesh Dhawade.
On Sep 29, 2008, a blast took place in Bhiku Chowk of Malegaon town in Nashik district of the state. Six persons were injured and over 100 injured in the incident.
Total no of witnesses who testified: 286
No of witnesses hostile: 29
