Bailable warrant against BJP's Pragya Thakur in 2008 Malegaon blasts case

BJP leader Pragya Thakur faces a bailable warrant against her after failing to appear before the trial court since June 4 in connection with the 2008 Malegaon blasts case.

In Short

• Pragya Thakur absent from court since June, warrant returnable by Nov 13
• Court questions medical certificate submitted for Thakur's absence
• In 2008, 6 people died when an explosive strapped to bike went off in Malegaon

A special NIA court has issued a bailable warrant against former BJP MP Pragya Thakur, a prime accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case. The court issued the bailable warrant after noting Thakur's absence from court and not attending the trial since June 4.

The warrant is returnable on November 13 and is worth Rs 10,000. This means that Thakur will have to be present in court before November 13 or will have to pay the amount to get the warrant cancelled.

Special judge AK Lahoti noted that Thakur's lawyers had submitted an application seeking exemption for her presence from time to time and during the day-to-day hearing of the case.

The application is accompanied by a "photocopy of the medical certificate showing that accused no 1 (Thakur) is undergoing treatment. The original certificate is not annexed to the application. The final hearing is going on and the presence of the accused is necessary and hence, issue a bailable warrant", judge Lahoti said.

However, this is not the first time that a warrant has been issued against Thakur.

Six people were killed and more than 100 were injured when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Maharashtra's Malegaon on September 29, 2008.

Thakur is a prime accused in the case, as the bomb was allegedly placed on her motorcycle.

TRIAL COURT HEARING MALEGAON CASE GETS BOMB TRIAL

The trial court, which is hearing the final stages of the Malegaon 2008 blasts case, received a bomb threat last month. However, there is hardly any security which has been beefed up following the incident.

A threat call was received at the Sessions Court registrar's office during Diwali on October 31 and since then, an investigation has been launched by the Colaba Police into the matter.

NIA SEEKS RESPONSE OVER RELEASE OF FILM ON MALEGAON BLASTS

One of the accused in the case, Sameer Kulkarni, had filed an application seeking a pause on the release of a film based on the Malegaon blasts. Special public prosecutor in the case, Avinash Rasal, was to reply to the application, but he sought that the film's trailer be watched in the courtroom.

The court watched the trailer on Tuesday and will do so on Wednesday as well, when Rasal will be replying, and the court will be passing an order.

Kulkarni contended that the trial court had earlier banned printing or publishing or displaying any kind of interview, interaction, discussion by media or others on the Malegaon blasts and hence, the release of the film was against that order.