Malegaon blast: All accused asked to appear in court on Dec 3
A special NIA court here conductingtrial in the 2008 Malegaon blast case on Tuesday directed allthe seven accused, including BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and LtCol Prasad Purohit, to appear before it on December 3.
The courts direction came on a plea of one of thevictims family, seeking day-to-day trial in the case, whichis being probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Judge P R Sitre asked all the accused to remainpresent in the court on Thursday.
Responding to the plea of one of the victims familyfor day-to-day trial,Special Public Prosecutor Avinash Rasalsaid they are ready to conduct a speedy trial, but they needto locate the witnesses, which is also a tedious task.
“Most of the time advocates of the accused personshave requested for adjournment of the trial for one reason orthe other,” he said.
The court had framed terror charges against Lt ColPrasad Purohit, Pragya Singh Thakur and five other accusedinOctober 2018.
The NIA said after framing of the charges, it wasmaking all efforts to expedite the case.
It pointed out that around 140 witnesses out of 400have been already been examined in the case.
The probe agency also told the court that the trial inthe case was delayed due to retirement of the previous judgeand the COVID-19 pandemic.
On September 29, 2008, six people were killed and over100 injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcyclewent off near a mosque in Malegaon, a town located about 200km from Mumbai in north Maharashtra.
The accused have been charged under Sections 16(committing terrorist act) and 18 (conspiring to committerrorist act) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act(UAPA).
They have also been charged under Indian Penal Code(IPS) Sections 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder),307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and153 (a) (promoting enmity between two religious groups), andrelevant provisions of the Explosive Substances Act.
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