Nisar Ahmed Sayyed Bilal, a petitioner and father of a man who died in the 2008 Malegaon blast, has submitted a letter to the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court urging him to recommend the extension of tenure of National Investigation Agency Court Judge VS Padalakar till the trial in the case is over.
Padalakar is set to retire at the end of this month.
In the letter to the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, Bilal said: "Despite the immense effort by accused persons to derail the trial, the present presiding officer, Judge V Padalkar, has managed to depose 140 prosecution witnesses in a fair and just manner. There is no complaint against him even by the accused persons."
"Change in the presiding officer would affect the trial and will delay the case, which is already pending for over a decade and involves several high profiles accused including BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur," he said.
Copies of the letter have also been sent to Chief Justice of India Sharad Arvind Bobde, Home Minister Amit Shah and to the NIA Headquarters.
Six people were killed and over 100 sustained injuries when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a town in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008.
( With inputs from ANI )