The Malegaon Blast case accused, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, has told a Mumbai court about a web series which is been telecast across the border in Pakistan and is based on information allegedly provided by media.
The army officer who is still serving has put before the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) judge which allegedly was a web series created on the basis the information shared by media about him.
Purohit said that all the information that was shared about him could be misused by terrorist outfits in Pakistan.
Purohit has stated that all the proceedings of the trial against him be conducted strictly in-camera with immediate effect.
Further he alleged that some anti-national opportunists want to hijack the trial, denying him the right to have a fair trial.
During the hearing on Tuesday, he claimed that the entire blast case was resurrected against him using media.
He also told the Court that neither he nor his lawyer, advocate Viral Babbar, interacted with the media at any point of time.
He also raised apprehension that confidential reports about him may have been leaked to the press.
“I have been exposed and this is not right for the country,” he urged.
Special Public Prosecutor Avinash Rasal for the NIA pointed out that this was the second application filed in the trial seeking in-camera hearing. The first application was filed by NIA in 2019 and it had been rejected by this Court though it had passed strictures for media personnel to follow.
Co-accused Sameer Kulkarni also opposed Purohit’s plea submitting that Purohit has not highlighted any particular instance where the order of the trial court was violated.
After hearing the submissions, the special court reserved the application for orders to be passed in the next week.
Meanwhile prime accused BJP Member of Parliament (MP) Pragya Singh Thakur moved an application before the Court seeking to expedite the trial alleging that NIA was deliberately delaying the trial.
Advocate JP Mishra, representing the MP, stated that there had been at least three instances where NIA had summoned irrelevant witnesses, and after they were brought to court, they were dropped as witnesses.
Mishra contended that several blast cases within Mumbai had concluded sooner despite not getting a day to day hearing (as was the case with Malegaon).
The special NIA judge will also decide this application along with Purohit’s application