Malegaon Blast: 19th Witness Turns Hostile, Denies Identifying Anyone Except Lt Col Purohit

The witness denied identifying anyone except Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit, who was present in the court, ANI reported.

Representational Image. (Source: Getty Images)

New Delhi: Another witness in the 2008 Malegaon blast case turned hostile on Thursday.

The witness denied identifying anyone except Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit, who was present in the court, ANI reported.

He is the 19th witness to turn hostile in connection with this case.

The matter will be next heard on March 25.

Earlier last month, the 18th witness turned hostile in connection with the Malegaon blast case.

During his deposition in the court of Special NIA Judge PR Sitre, the hotelier from Panchmarhi denied making any statement to the probe agencies, said special public prosecutor Avinash Rasal, PTI reported.

The witness, however, supported the statements attributed to him in the chargesheet.

The witness had in the statement attributed to him in the chargesheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) said that Lieutenant Colonel Purohit had met him to make arrangements for the camp for about 40-50 people in October 2008.

As many as 220 witnesses have been examined in the case till now.

Earlier on September 29, 2008, six people were killed and over 100 others injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Nashik's Malegaon town, located about 200 km from Mumbai.

The accused in the case include Lok Sabha member Pragya Singh Thakur, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, Shudakar Diwedi, Major (Retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni, all of whom are out on bail.

They are facing trial under provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code.