Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Lok Sabha member Pragya Singh Thakur and co-accused Sameer Kulkarni on Thursday withdrew their plea from the Bombay High Court seeking her discharge in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case.
Advocate Prashant Maggu, appearing for Thakur, argued in the court that 289 witnesses have been examined in the trial court and it would not be appropriate to press for discharge at this stage, so his client sought permission to withdraw the petition.
The special court had dismissed the petitions of these accused in December 2017, following which they approached the High Court. The court accepted his request and Allow him to withdraw the Plea.
Another accused, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, withdrew one of his petitions alleging defective sanction to prosecute him under provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Apart from Thakur, Kulkarni and Purohit, Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi and S Chaturvedi are among those accused in the September 29, 2008 bomb blast near a mosque in Malegaon, Maharashtra’s Nashik district. All of them are currently out on bail.
