Mumbai, Jun 29 (PTI) A licensed arms dealer, who had allegedly sold ammunition to one of the accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, became the 21st witness to turn hostile during the trial here on Wednesday.

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The witness had allegedly sold ammunition to Lt Col Prasad Purohit, one of the accused in the case.

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In his statement to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), the witness had claimed that Purohit had visited his arms shop in 2006 to purchase ammunition.

The accused was carrying a licensed weapon when he came to the shop, and he had sold him ammunition once, the witness had told the ATS, which was investigating the case at the time.

The probe was later taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

However, during his deposition before the court on Wednesday, the witness retracted the statement he had given to the probe agency.

He failed to recognise Purohit in court or the weapon, when it was shown to him. A witness presented by the probe agency is declared hostile when he or she does not support the prosecution's case in the court.

Six persons were killed and around 90 were injured when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a town in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008.

Apart from Purohit, the accused in the case include BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, Shudakar Diwedi, Major Ramesh Upadhyay (retired), Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni, all of whom are out on bail.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)