Another Witness in Malegaon blast case turns hostile

Mumbai: The number of prosecution witnesses turning hostile reaches upto 24 as one more witness in the 2008 Malegon blast case involving BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur turned hostile and refused to support the case.
Deposing before a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court the witness who was the landlord of accused Sudhakar Chaturvedi for some time in 2006-07 denied having given any statement to NIA.
This is the 24th witness in this case who has turned hostile.
Some of these witnesses have given their statements to Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) which was investigating the case initially, some hostile witnesses had given their statements to the present investigating agency NIA also but have now turned hostile.
Lt Colonel Prasad SL Purohit, an accused in the case, was present in the court during the hearing today. The witness refused to recognize anyone except for Lt Colonel Purohit.
In the 2008 Malegaon blast case, six people were killed and over 100 injured after an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque at Malegaon in north Maharashtra, about 200 kilometres from Mumbai. All the seven accused in the case are currently out on bail.
(UNI)