Almost 17 years after the blast, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court had on April 19 reserved the verdict for May 8. However, Special Judge A K Lahoti, presiding over the 2008 Malegaon blast case, kept it for the next date
Representational Image
A Special NIA court in Mumbai on Thursday said it will likely give the judgment in the 2008 Malegaon blast case on July 31, noting that the matter has voluminous documents and it needs some time to deliver the verdict, reported news agency PTI.
Almost 17 years after the blast, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court had on April 19 reserved the verdict for May 8. However, Special Judge A K Lahoti, presiding over the 2008 Malegaon blast case, kept it for the next date.
The judge told the accused persons, present in the court, that the case has voluminous documents, and it will take some time to pass the judgment. He asked all the accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case to be present on July 31, the next date, reported PTI.
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 Mumbai in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008.
During the trial, the prosecution examined 323 witnesses, of whom 34 turned hostile.
Lt Col Prasad Purohit, BJP leader Pragya Thakur, Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni are facing trial in the case under the provisions the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, or UAPA, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), reported PTI.
The 2008 Malegaon blast case was initially probed by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) before being transferred to the NIA in 2011.
The NIA, after taking over the case, had filed a chargesheet in 2016 giving a clean chit to Thakur and three other accused- Shyam Sahu, Praveen Takalki and Shivnarayan Kalsangra- saying it found no evidence against them and they should be discharged from the case.
The NIA court, however, absolved Sahu, Kalsangra and Takalki and ruled that Sadhvi will have to face trial.
The special court, on October 30, 2018, framed charges against seven accused under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Indian Penal Code (IPC).
They are facing trial under sections 16 (committing terrorist act) and 18 (conspiring to commit terrorist act) of the UAPA and under IPC sections 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 153 (a) (promoting enmity between two religious groups).
Recording of the testimony of the prosecution witness was completed in September last year.
(With inputs from PTI)
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
