NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency of Monday rejected Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, one of the accused in Malegaon bomb last case 2008 plea seeking exemption from appearing for hearing in court, according to The Indian Express reports.
The newly elected member of parliament from Bhopal on a BJP ticket, who defeated Congress candidate Digvijaya Singh, a two-time CM by nearly 3 lakh votes, filed a plea seeking an exemption from appearing for the trail between June 3 and June 7 to complete her parliamentary procedures.
However, special NIA Judge V S Padalkar rejected Thakur’s application and directed the terror blast accused to be present before it this week.
“Grounds shown in the exemption application like to complete process of elections, enrollment and other factors cannot be accepted at all as time and again, the accused person (Thakur) has undertaken to remain present before this court but fails to do so,” the court said, as per leading news agency reports.
Earlier in May 21, the court had granted exemption to Pragya from appearance before the court. But this time the court rejected her plea.
Arrested in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, in which six people were killed and over 100 injured when a bomb went off near a mosque in the north Maharashtra town on September 29, 2008, she was cleared by the NIA, but the trial court refused to discharge her from the case.
While the court dropped the charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against her, she is being tried under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
She was granted bail by the Bombay High Court in 2017.