Malegaon blast case: Will now fight against UAPA charges, says Prasad Purohit's wife

Pune: Aparna Purohit, wife of Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, on Wednesday expressed happiness after the charges of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) was dropped against her husband. She added that she will continue to fight against other charges.

"Dropping of MCOCA charges is a big relief and we will fight the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) charges. This verdict has just proved that the charges framed against him are all false," Aparna told ANI.

Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Purohit and six others accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast will stand trial on stringent terror charges, a special NIA court on Wednesday ruled.

Rejecting the pleas of the accused of discharge from the case, a special NIA court, however, dropped some sections of the UAPA, as well as MCOCA against the accused, which is punishable by up to life in prison.

Significantly, the court dismissed NIA's contention that there was no evidence against Pragya, saying it was difficult to accept the claim given that her motorcycle was used in the blast.

"There is evidence to suggest that the accused number one (Thakur) had knowledge about the involvement of her motorcycle," the court said in its ruling on the nine-year-old case.

Pragya "had also expressed dissatisfaction about causing less casualties in the blast. Hence it is difficult to accept submissions on behalf of the NIA and the accused number one that she had no concern with the present crime," it said, as per PTI.

Special judge SD Tekale, who was hearing the pleas filed by seven of the 13 accused and the NIA's application seeking framing of charges, said that charges will be framed against Pragya, Purohit, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Ajay Rahirkar.

The accused will face trial now under sections 16 and 18 of the UAPA (conspiring for and committing/organising a terror act) and under the Indian Penal Code for criminal conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder and causing hurt besides charges under the Explosive Substances Act and Arms Act.

The charges are punishable by various prison terms up to life, and death for murder.

The NIA, while filing a chargesheet in the case in 2016, gave a clean chit to Pragya and three others - Shyam Sahu, Praveen Takalki, Shivnarayan Kalsangra - saying it found no evidence against them and they should be discharged from the case.

On Wednesday, the court absolved only Sahu, Kalsangra and Takalki from all the charges leaving Pragya  to face trial. Two others, Jagdish Mhatre and Rakesh Dhawde, will face trial only under the Arms Act "before concerned courts", the NIA court said.

The NIA had claimed in its chargesheet that there was no evidence of Thakur ever being part of conspiracy meetings and had said that though the motorcycle used in the blast once belonged to her, she had sold it much before the blast and had no knowledge of the conspiracy.

The judge, however, also noted that statements of some witnesses supported the charge that Thakur and Purohit had participated in some of the conspiracy meetings in Faridabad and Bhopal.

Six persons were killed when an improvised explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off at Malegaon in north Maharashtra's Nashik district, on September 29, 2008.

(With Agency inputs)