Malegaon blast: Col Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya, 5 others charged for terror conspiracy

All seven accused are charged for terror conspiracy, murder and other related offences by a special NIA court in Mumbai.

Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Purohit and five others charged under UAPA in the Malegaon blast case

New Delhi: All the seven accused in the ten-year-old Malegaon bomb blast case, have been charged under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and other sections of the IPC -  including charges of criminal conspiracy and murder. A special court in Mumbai framed charges of criminal conspiracy and murder under the IPC  among other charges, against the seven accused including Lieutenant colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. Five other accused are Major (Retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni. Under the UAPA, the accused have been charged with being part of a terrorist act, and under IPC they have been charged with criminal conspiracy and murder. Judge Vinod Padalkar who was presiding over the special National Investigation Agency framed the charges against all the accused persons who were present in the court when he read out the charges against them. All the accused persons pleaded not guilty after framing of charges. The next date of hearing has been set on 2nd November. The trial in a criminal case commences after the framing of charges.

2008 Malegaon blasts case: All seven accused charged for terror conspiracy, murder and other related offences. Court adjourns the matter till 2:45 pm pic.twitter.com/JwZ8Xt6HrY

— ANI (@ANI) October 30, 2018

Six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon which is a communally-sensitive textile town in Nashik district of north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008. In November 2008, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested 11 people in this connection. However, in April 2011, the investigation was transferred to the NIA.