Purohit seeks ‘detailed’ statements of witnesses

After trying his best to stall trial in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, on Monday, Lieutenant Colonel (Lt. Col.) SP Purohit filed a fresh application seeking detailed statements of all the witnesses to be examined by the special court.

This comes after the prosecution had submitted the statements of over 600 witnesses. Purohit, through his counsel, filed this application before the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court seeking a direction to the prosecution to submit detailed statements.

He has sought the direction after going through the statements submitted by the NIA and also the state anti-terrorism squad (ATS), last month. In his plea, Purohit has highlighted the fact that the major part of the statements of several witnesses have been truncated.

He has also claimed the prosecution has failed to disclose the name of even a single witness who will be deposing in the court.

“The extent of truncation is so wide that it is impossible to construe the true import of the contents of the statements. By truncating the documents, the prosecution has deprived the accused, his statutory right to prepare for cross-examination and his defence,” the petition reads.

Having admitted the application, special Judge VS Padalkar directed special public prosecutor Avinash Rasal to file a reply to Purohit’s plea. The court has adjourned the case till Thursday.