Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi has sought a week's time to file a counter affidavit on behalf of the government and the NIA on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
The Centre today denied allegations in the Supreme Court that it had asked Special Public Prosecutor (SPP), Rohini Salian to "go soft" against the accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, which had killed four people and injured nearly 80 others on September 29.
"The main allegation is that the prosecutor was asked to go soft. I myself have examined the papers. There is no truth in it," Attorney General Mukul Roghatgi, appearing for the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Investigation Agency (NIA), told the court.
Mr Rohatgi also sought a week's time to file a counter affidavit on behalf of the government and the NIA on the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) which has alleged that the government was exerting pressure on the Ms Salian to go soft on the accused.
Earlier on September 11, the Court had sought a response from the Centre and the agency on the PIL, which was filed by social activist Harsh Mander. It alleged that NIA officials had pressured the former SPP, Ms Salian, presumably under instructions from their political masters.
Ms Salian had also claimed that she had been asked to go soft on the case, and the same officer had told her that she would be replaced. She is no longer on NIA's panel of lawyers.
The PIL also sought direction to the Centre to appoint an SPP to conduct "fair" trial and constitute a Special Investigating Team of the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the alleged actions of NIA officials who allegedly pressurised Ms Salian.
The high-profile accused in the case includes Lieutenant Colonel SP Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. The 4,000-page charge sheet had alleged that Malegaon was selected for the blasts because of its sizeable Muslim population. It named Ms Thakur, Mr Purohit and another accused, Swami Dayanand Pandey, as the key conspirators.