Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi rubbishes Public Prosecutor’s claim on Malegaon blast case

Panaji: Rubbishing allegations of Special Public Prosecutor Rohini Salian in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case that she had been asked to "go soft" by the NIA after the NDA came to power, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Friday said this charge was part of a conspiracy against the Narendra Modi Government.

"Those involved in the case would not be spared, while the innocents will not be punished. The guilty will not be spared," Naqvi, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, told reporters on the sidelines of an event here today.

He rubbished the allegations that the Modi government had asked any agency to "go soft" in prosecution of the case in which some Hindu extremists are accused. Naqvi said the entire allegation is a "part of conspiracy against the government".

Read: NIA asked me to ‘go soft’ on Malegaon blast accused: Special Public Prosecutor

"Law will take its own course. Where is the question of asking to go slow," he said.

SPP in the case, Rohini Salian, had alleged that she was asked by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to "go slow" in the Malegaon blast case in which some members of radical Hindu groups stand accused.

The NIA had refuted the charge and said no officer of it had "inappropriately briefed" her in the conduct of the case. Seven people were killed in the blast, which had occurred near a mosque in the Maharashtra town and initially several Muslim youth were arrested by the state police on suspicion of terror activity.