‘Tortured in jail for confession’: Sadhvi Pragya breaks down while narrating her ordeal

Bhopal, Apr 18: Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Bhopal, on Thursday broke down while narrating how she was "tortured" while in custody of the police facing trial in the Malegaon bomb blast case.

"They wanted me to say that I carried out an explosion and killed Muslims...I was beaten through day and night. They used spiked belts to beat me up in the jail after illegal detention...They abused me and threatened me to strip naked," said Sadhvi Pragya on Thursday, according to news agency ANI.

She broke down during her address to the BJP workers in Bhopal, where the party cadres shouted chants of "jai shri Ram" (glory to Lord Ram).

Thakur accused the Congress of falsely accusing her in the 2008 Malegaon blast in which seven people were killed and over 100 injured when a bomb went off near a mosque.

"The Congress has linked Hindus with terrorism, called them terrorists and harassed a woman. I am not recalling my pain before you but all I am saying is that no sister should undergo what I have faced," said Sadhvi Pragya.

An accused in the Malegaon Blast case, Sadhvi Pragya faces a number of charges although the charge under MCOCA has been dropped by an NIA court. She joined BJP earlier this week and has been named as the party candidate to fight Congress' Digvijaya Singh. Her selection has been widely seen as controversial with political rivals raising concerns aplenty.