Pragya Thakur, Two Other Accused Exempted From Court Appearance in Malegaon Blast Case

Mumbai: A unique court here has allowed exception to the 2008 Malegaon impact case blamed Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Purohit and Sudhakar Chaturvedi from showing up before it this week. 

At the point when the issue was taken up by the extraordinary NIA court on Monday, the three charged recorded applications through their legal advisors looking for exclusion from appearance.

While Thakur and Chaturvedi said they are busy with preparations for the upcoming results of the Lok Sabha polls, which they had contested, Purohit cited personal difficulties.

The court allowed the applications.

The court also allowed an application filed by lawyers of the accused persons to visit the blast site in Malegaon, a town about 200 kilometers from here in Maharashtra's Nashik district.

Last week, the special NIA court, which is conducting a trial against seven accused in the case, had directed all of them to appear before it at least once a week.

It then said an exemption would be granted if cogent reasons were submitted.

Thakur, the BJP nominee from Bhopal Lok Sabha seat, said in her application that as a candidate, she would have to fulfil certain procedures of the Election Commission, including nominating her



agents for the counting of votes in her constituency on May 23.

Chaturvedi, who fought the election as an Independent from Mirzapur seat in Uttar Pradesh, cited the same reason.

Currently, the court is recording the testimony of witnesses in the case.

Besides these three, the other accused in the case are Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi and Sameer Kulkarni. They are all out on bail.

Six individuals were executed and more than 100 harmed on September 29, 2008, when a dangerous gadget lashed to a cruiser went off close to a mosque in Malegaon. 

The denounced people are confronting preliminary under different areas of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). 

They have been charged under UAPA Sections 16 (submitting fear based oppressor act) and 18 (scheming to submit psychological militant act). 

They are dealing with indictments under areas 120(b) (criminal trick), 302 (murder), 307 (endeavor to kill), 324 (willfully causing hurt) and 153(a) (advancing hostility between two religious gatherings) of the IPC. 

The blamed have additionally been charged under applicable areas of the Explosive Substances Act.