NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to entertain a plea by Sameer Kulkarni, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, claiming absence of the requisite sanction for the prosecution by the NIA from the central government under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
A bench of Justices M M Sundresh and Aravind Kumar told the counsel, representing Kulkarni, that the court is not keen to interfere with the Bombay High Court order, which had dismissed his plea.
Senior advocate Shyam Divan, along with advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, representing Kulkarni, contended that the prosecution has not obtained sanction under Section 45(2) of UAPA. In this backdrop the charges under the UAPA cannot be sustained, he contended.
"We find no reason to interfere with the impugned judgment," the bench said.
Divan said that when the matter was handed over to the National Investigation Agency, there ought to be a sanction by the Centre. However, the bench refused to interfere with the High Court judgment.
In April, the court had stayed proceedings against Kulkarni before the special court.
Kulkarni, one of the accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, challenged the trial in the special NIA court, Mumbai, saying that it lacks the valid sanction granted by the competent authority in accordance with Section 45 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Kulkarni contended that his primary case is that the trial cannot proceed in light of there being no valid prior sanction for prosecution of either the state government or the central government. Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit were arrested in the same year with nine others for the blast conspiracy.
Kulkarni challenged correctness of the Bombay High Court's order June 28, 2023, which upheld the Mumbai's Special Court's order April 20, 2023, rejecting his plea with regard to absence of sanction.
His plea contended even though the central government by order of April 01, 2011 entrusted the investigation to NIA, which filed charge sheet on May 13, 2016 without obtaining sanction from the central government as provided under Section 45 (2) of UAPA.
It further said in absence of sanction to prosecute, accorded by competent authority under UAPA, the petitioner cannot be tried for the charges levelled against him.
On the contrary, the NIA claimed the present plea is the classic example of abuse of process of law by the petitioner, as the trial was on the verge of conclusion.
The NIA termed the plea as erroneous since the sanction was granted by the state government to the Maharashtra ATS and second time to the central agency when it took over the probe. It said the charges were framed in October 30, 2018 but the writ petition was filed in the High Court only in 2023 to frustrate the trial which was at the fag end.
Six persons were killed and nearly 100 injured when a bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded in Malegaon town in Nashik district.
