Mumbai: 2008 Malegaon blasts case accused Sadhvi Pragya, Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahikar and Lt. Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit were discharged under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (MCOCA) and Sections 17, 20 and 13 of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Arms act by a special sessions court here on Wednesday.
However, the court, in its order, further ruled that Sadhvi Pragya and Lt. Col. Purohit will be tried under Section 18 of the UAPA Act and other charges of the Indian Penal Code.
The Mumbai sessions court also discharged three other accused from all charges. NIA had earlier given them clean chit in its final chargesheet. Those discharged by the court of all charges are:- Shivnarayan Kalsangra, Shyam Shahu, Praveen Takkalki.
Meanwhile, Rakesh Dhawde and Jagdish Mhatre were charged only under arms act and discharged from all other charges.
The Bombay High Court had on Monday granted bail to Major Ramesh Upadhyay – a key accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case.
The Supreme Court had in August granted bail to Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit (retired), the main accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast which killed seven people.
A National Investigation Court (NIA) court had on September 19 granted bail to Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sudhakar Dwivedi in the blast case.
On the evening of September 29, 2008, a powerful bomb exploded near the Nooraji Mosque in Malegaon killing six persons and injuring 100 others.
The 4,000-page charge sheet had alleged that Malegaon was selected as the blast target because of a sizeable Muslim population there.
It had named Sadhvi Thakur, Purohit and co-accused, Swami Dayanand Pandey as the key conspirators.
However, Thakur was given clean chit by the NIA in 2016.
Bureau Report
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