Bombay HC questions NIA's probe in 2006 blast case
NIA gave a clean chit to the nine accused chargesheeted by ATS and CBI.
Mumbai: The Bombay high court, while hearing a petition pertaining to the 2006 Malegaon blasts case, said that when two agencies — the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) — have already investigated the case and filed a chargesheet against a set of accused, how could a third agency i.e. the National Investigation Agency (NIA), arrest another set of accused in the case.
A division bench of justice Naresh Patil and justice N.W. Sambre was hearing a petition filed by four accused charge-sheeted by the NIA in the 2006 blasts case.
Initially, the ATS had investigated the matter and filed a chargesheet, after which the case was transferred to the CBI which filed a supplementary chargesheet against nine accused after a three-year-long probe. In 2011, the NIA took charge and after investigating for two years, filed a chargesheet against four accused involved in the Hyderabad Mecca masjid blasts case. NIA gave a clean chit to the nine accused chargesheeted by ATS and CBI.
On Friday, the Bombay high court questioned as to how findings of the NIA could have been so different from those of the CBI and the ATS which earlier probed the case. The next hearing will be on January 19.