Malegaon blast case: Pragya appears before NIA court

Newly-elected Bhopal MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, on Friday appeared before a special court in Mumbai for the first time after she became a lawmaker.

During her appearance, she denied any knowledge about the blasts.

"I don't know," she told additional sessions judge VS Padalkar - who presides over a special NIA court when asked what she has to say about the case. This week, she had failed to appear in the court on two occasions.

The NIA court had asked all the accused to be present in the court once every week.

Judge Padalkar said that so far 116 witnesses had been examined which include the panch witnesses and in most of the hearings the accused were represented by their lawyers.
The judge asked Thakur and Sudhakar Diwedi, a seer, to the witness box and asked whether they are aware of the Malegaon blast in which six persons were killed, she said: "mujhe jaankari nahi hai" (I am not aware).

Last time, she had appeared in the court, when the charges were framed in October, last year.

Thakur appeared in the courtroom in saffron robes. Her aides put a red cloth on the benches for her to sit comfortably.