MP to reopen murder case against Pragya Singh Thakur

Bhopal: In a significant development, Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday declared to reopen an old case relating to murder of RSS leader Sunil Joshi in which BJP’s candidate for Bhopal Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was acquitted along with seven others due to lack of evidence a couple of years ago.

State law minister P.C. Sharma told reporters here that his government was seeking legal opinion to reopen the case and go for a fresh probe into it.

The announcement comes a day after exit polls predicted return of NDA at the Centre.

“The case was not properly dealt by the previous government in the state leading to acquittal of the accused.

“Hence, we have decided to reopen the case”, he said.

The RSS leader was shot dead by bike-borne assailants at Chuna Bhatti in Dewas district in MP on December 29, 2007.

Ms Pragya and seven others were acquitted by a local court in 2017 due to lack of evidence.

According to Mr Sharma, the then district collector of Dewas had arbitrarily shut the case without seeking opinion of law department.

The state government has now sought a report on the case from the Dewas district collector which would be scrutinized by the state law department before moving a higher court seeking to reopen the case, he added.

BJP spokesman here however described the move by the state government as witch-hunting.

“The ruling Congress is seeking revenge against Pragya since she contested against Digvijay Singh,” he alleged.