Malegaon Blast 2008 case: Special NIA court begins its trial against Lt Col Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya and others

A special NIA court has begun its trial in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case against Lt Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Sameer Kulkarni and other four accused. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) prosecuting agency has submitted a list of 286 witnesses, 102 Panch witnesses and 216 documents in support of its case before the court. 

The witnesses mentioned in the list include three doctors from JJ  Hospital, Mumbai, Mumbai/Malegaon police officers, ATS officers from Mumbai and Delhi, NIA officers from Mumbai and Delhi, forensic experts.

Presiding over the special NIA court, Judge Vinod Padalkar accepted the witness list and documents against the accused in Malegaon bomb blast 2008 case, submitted by the NIA. Matter posted for further hearing on November 12.

READ | Malegaon Blast Case: Special NIA Court Charge Lt Col Purohit And Others Under UAPA And Section 302

In this case, a special NIA court on October 30 had framed charges against Lt Col Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya and other five accused. All of them have charged for terror activities, murder, criminal conspiracy, abetment. The accused have to face trial under sections of the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) section 302 (Murder), 120(b) (Criminal conspiracy), 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntary causing hurt), and 153(a) (promoting enmity between two religious groups). The accused were also charged under relevant sections of the Explosive Substances Act.

The judge while reading out the charges against the seven accused said, "The Abhinav Bharat organisation was formed with the common object to spread terrorism and a bomb with RDX was planted on a motorcycle in Malegaon that killed six persons and injured 101 others. The accused persons came together to hatch a conspiracy to commit a terrorist act and procured explosives to further their conspiracy."

The special court had dropped stringent charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the accused but had said they will face charges under the UAPA and other sections of the IPC, including murder and criminal conspiracy.

Apart from Lt Col Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya, other accused are Retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi and Sudhakar Chaturvedi.

Six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a town about 200 km from here in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008.

READ | Malegaon Blast 2008: Special NIA Court Frames Charges Against Lt Col Purohit In Malegaon Blast Case