A special National Investigation Agency court in Mumbai on Wednesday dropped MCOCA charges against Lt Col Prasad Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya, Ramesh Upadhyay and Sudhakar Dwivedi in relation to the 2008 Malegaon blast case.
The accused will be now tried under under sections 16 (committing a terror act) and 18 (criminal conspiracy) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), and sections 120(b) (punishment of criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 326 (intentionally causing harm to others) of the IPC. The court decided that the charges under MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) were not applicable.
In its order, the special NIA court said that Sadhvi Pragya Singh cannot be exonerated of conspiracy charges as she was aware about the motorcycle being used for the conspiracy.
Three other accused, Pravin Takalki, Shyamlal Sahu and Shivnarayan Kalsangra, were however, discharged, while Rakesh Dhawde and Jagdish Mhatre will face trial only under the Arms Act.
On 29 September 2008, six people were killed and nearly 100 injured when a bomb tied to a motorcycle exploded in Nashik's Malegaon town.
All the accused are already out on bail and will continue to be on bail. All previous bonds and sureties will continue, the special NIA court said. The next date of hearing is on 15 January.
“Dropping of MCOCA charges is a big relief and we will fight the UAPA charges,” Aparna Purohit, wife of Lt Col Purohit said after the hearing.
Case So Far
According to the Hindustan Times report, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was the first person to be booked by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in 2008 – following which 11 people were arrested by November that year.
The case was transferred to NIA in April 2011. In 2016, the NIA gave a clean chit to Thakur and five others due to “insufficient evidence”.
The Bombay High Court, on 19 December, dismissed petitions filed by Purohit and Kulkarni challenging sanction for prosecution under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), according to a report in The New Indian Express.
(This is a developing story and will be updated)
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