I am being framed, claims Sadhvi Pragya

Sadhvi Pragya Thakur told her lawyer Ganesh Sovani that she has been framed in the Malegaon blast case.

It is a political conspiracy to malign me, the sadhvi reportedly told her lawyer when she met him for five minutes at the Nashik court.

Sovani told rediff.com that her arrest seemed like a government-sponsored conspiracy to deflect popular attention from the Ahmedabad blasts, Delhi blasts and several other terror attacks which rocked the nation this year.

"According to section 50-A of the Criminal Procedure Code, a detainee or accused has to be produced before a magistrate within 24 hours. We would like to know why the ATS didn't declare her arrest on October 11," Sovani said.

Sovani has also alleged that National Human Rights Commission guidelines issued to all chief secretaries of states and Union territories on January 11 , 2000, relating to the administration of Polygraph Test (lie-detector) on an accused was not followed as the test was conducted without the subject's consent, which should have been recorded before a judicial magistrate.

The lawyer contends that the motorbike used in the blast does not belong to his client. He also claimed the taped conversation between Pragya and her associate Ramji about the sale of the motorcycle which may implicate her, could have been fabricated and the witness, Dharamendra Subhash Bairagi's statement that he heard the said conversation between the sadhvi and Ramji was not foolproof.

The lawyer has filed an application in the Nashik court before the chief judicial magistrate seeking Pragya's medical report and an inquiry into theMumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad's alleged lapses of illegal confinement and contravention of NHRC guidelines. The court is likely to rule on the matter on Monday. Sovani also said he has no plans as of now to seek her bail since he has not managed to speak to her in detail.

The ATS could not be reached for its comments.

 'My daughter Sadhvi Pragya'