MCOCA charges dropped in Malegaon blast case

A special court in Mumbai has dropped the stringent MCOCA invoked against Sadhvi Pragya Singh, Lt Col Prasad S P Purohit and nine other accused in 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case saying none of them is part of an organized crime syndicate.

Designated Judge Y B Shinde, presiding over the special court on Friday, said none of the accused were part of the organised crime syndicate and also no one had more than one chargesheet filed against him or her for invoking provisions of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

As provisions of Indian Penal Code (IPC) would apply now, the case would be heard by a sessions court in Nashik.

Additional Director General of Police (Anti-Terrorism Squad) K P Raghuvanshi said they would appeal against the MCOCA court’s judgement in the Bombay High court.

“The court has only said that MCOCA is not applicable in the case and the certified copy of the order is still awaited,” Raghuvanshi said.

“We have also obtained a stay on the execution of the order and have got four weeks to apply to the High Court challenging the order,” he said.

Seven people were killed in a bomb blast on 29th September 2008, at Malegaon, a communally-sensitive textile town in North Maharashtra district of Nashik.

Earlier this year, the Anti-Terrorist Squad filed a 4,000-page chargesheet against 11 accused.

The chargesheet alleged Malegaon was selected as the blast target because Muslims form sizeable part of its population.

It named Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Purohit and Swami Dayanand Pandey as the key conspirators.

The chargesheet further alleged it was Pandey who had instructed Purohit to arrange for RDX while Sadhvi owned the motorcycle used in the blast.

Ajay Rahirkar, another accused, allegedly organised finances for the terror act while conspiracy meetings were held at Bhonsala Military School in Nashik.

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