The National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Wednesday deferred framing of charges against Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and others in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, and said it will hear the validity of sanctions granted to the accused on a daily basis from September 10.
Judge Vinod Padalkar was slated to frame charges against all the accused of involvement in the blast, which killed six and injured 101, but said he will decide whether the cases are fit to be tried under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), under which the accused have been charged.
Sameer Kulkarni, Lt. Col. Purohit, Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Ajay Rahilkar were present in court. Sadhvi Pragya’s lawyer sought permission for her to attend the proceedings via video conferencing as she is not in the physical condition to come from Indore to Mumbai.
The lawyer for Major Ramesh Upadhyay said it was important to decide on the UAPA charges against Major Upadhyay, who is preparing to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election on a Hindu Mahasabha ticket.
On December 27, 2017, NIA judge S.D. Tekale had dropped all charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against the accused and discharged them under Sections 17 (punishment for raising funds for terrorist act), 20 (punishment for being member of terrorist gang or organisation), and 23 (enchanced penalties) of the UAPA and Sections 3 (licence for acquisition and possession of firearms and ammunition), 5 (licence for manufacture, sale, etc., of arms and ammunition), and 25 (punishment for offences) of the Arms Act. They are still charged under Sections 15 (terrorist act), 16 (punishment for terrorist act) and 18 (punishment for conspiracy) of the UAPA.
On September 4, the Bombay High Court had rejected Lt. Col. Purohit’s plea to defer the date for framing of charges. He has also challenged the sanction to prosecute him and the rejection of his discharge in the case.