No closure yet for family of missing witness in Malegaon blast case

Six people were killed and 101 others injured in a blast in Malegaon town in Nashik district of Maharashtra on September 29, 2008.

Indore: Seventeen years after his mysterious disappearance, authorities are still clueless about the whereabouts of Dilip Patidar, a witness in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, now legally presumed dead.

Patidar, related to absconding accused Ramchandra Kalsangra, was allegedly taken away by the Maharashtra Police’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) from here on the intervening night of November 10 and 11, 2008, for questioning. His family never heard from him again.

“My family fought a long legal battle to trace my father, but the result was zero,” his 21-year-old son Himanshu Patidar told PTI on Friday.

A court in Mumbai on Thursday acquitted all seven accused including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur in the blast case, but there has been no closure for Patidar’s family.

“Despite all efforts, no clue could be found about Patidar. Finally, we had to file a case in the local court on behalf of his family and get his civil death declared so that his dependents can get legitimate benefits and rights,” said the family’s lawyer Deepak Rawal.

The Indore civil court declared Patidar’s `civil death’ on December 19, 2018, following an application filed by his wife Padma and son Himanshu. A civil death is declared when a person is missing for seven years or more.

Patidar, an electrician by profession, used to live in the house Ramchandra Kalsangra alias Ramji who was named as an accused in the blast case.

Himanshu said the ATS took away his father saying he would be released after recording a statement.

“Later, ATS officials kept claiming they had released my father, but they never gave us any concrete information about it,” he said.

“My family fought a long legal battle to trace my father, but the result was zero. Our financial condition is not good ever since he went missing. The government should help us,” said Himanshu, the only child of his parents.

Kalsangara’s son Devvrat said that like Patidar, his father is also missing for the last 17 years.

Another wanted accused in the Malegaon blast case, Sandeep Dange, is also missing since 2008. Dange’s 88-year-old father V K Dange lives in Lokmanya Nagar locality of Indore. He claims to have no information about where his son is.

A total of 12 accused were arrested by the Maharashtra ATS in the Malegaon blast case, while Kalsangra and Dange were declared fugitives. The probe was later taken over by the National Investigation Agency.

Six people were killed and 101 others injured in a blast in Malegaon town in Nashik district of Maharashtra on September 29, 2008.