On Thursday morning The Indian Express published a rather explosive interview of the Special Public Prosecutor in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case. Rohini Salian’s alleged that she was asked to go soft on the proceedings of a case in which Hindu extremists are accused.
Her claims put the spotlight on the present Narendra Modi government and the NIA and the picture is not pretty.
The Prosecutor Claims
• An NIA official met me after the Narendra Modi government assumed power and asked me to go soft on the accused.
• The official had apparently got instructions from higher-ups to convey this to me.
• Again on June 12 this year, the same officer met me and conveyed orally that I would be replaced by some other lawyer in this case.
• Neither a notification has been issued about my replacement with some other lawyer nor my bills settled.
• Once NIA frees me, I will take up cases against the NIA even if need be.
Who is Rohini Salian?
• A lawyer of 25 years standing, Salian is also a prosecutor in Mulund bomb blast case (in which three cases are clubbed) and 2002 Ghatkopar bomb blast case.
• She was also the public prosecutor in the 1992 JJ hospital shoot out case in which underworld Don Dawood Ibrahim’s aide Subhash Thakur was sentenced to death.
(With inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)