Maharashtra govt should file appeal against Malegaon blast ruling: MP Congress MLA

Bhopal, Jul 31 (PTI) Arif Masood, a Congress MLA in Madhya Pradesh, on Thursday said the Maharashtra government should file an appeal against the acquittal of the accused including former Bhopal MP Pragya Thakur in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

"The Maharashtra government, which has announced that it would file an appeal against the acquittal of the 12 accused in the 7/11 Mumbai train blasts case by the Bombay High Court, should do the same thing in the Malegaon case too," he told reporters here.

"Both cases are similar. I came to know through news reports that the Malegaon blast accused were acquitted for want of evidence," Masood added.

Family members of the Malegaon blast victims have said they would challenge the verdict of the special NIA court in Mumbai.

Some of the victim families will file an independent appeal against the judgement, said their lawyer Shahid Nadeem who also blamed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for not pursuing perjury action against the witnesses who turned hostile during the trial. PTI LAL KRK