Sadhvi Pragya Acquitted in Joshi Murder Case for ‘Weak’ Evidence

Seven others were acquitted along with Sadhvi Pragya as evidence presented raised doubts about the whole case.

Sadhvi Prachi. (Photo courtesy: Facebook/Sadhvi Prachi)

Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and seven others were acquitted in the 2007 RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi murder case on Wednesday by a Madhya Pradesh court, which held the state police and NIA conducted the probe with "prejudice" and produced "weak and self-contradictory evidences".

"The contradictory evidences presented by police and NIA in the case raised serious doubts in the whole case," the First Additional District and Sessions Judge of Dewas Rajiv Madhusudan Apte said while acquitting Thakur and others.

Joshi, once a close aide of the Sadhvi before they fell out over some dispute, was shot dead here on 29 December 2007.

Thakur, also an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, is in judicial custody. She was not present in the court when the verdict was pronounced, as she is undergoing treatment in Bhopal.

"The court has observed that the analysis of evidence gathered by the police and NIA reveals that in sensitive and serious cases like murder, both the prosecution agencies carried out investigation with prejudice," defence lawyer Raghuveer Yardi said.

They (police and NIA) didn’t conduct investigation seriously and the self-contradictory and weak evidences of the agencies were insufficient to convict the accused and the contradictory pari-materia (a rule of statutory interpretation) makes the prosecution highly suspicious.

Raghuveer Yardi

Public Prosecutor Girish Munji said the state will take a call on challenging the order in the competent court after studying the judgement.