Sadhvi Pragya, other Malegaon blast accused asked to appear before NIA court

A Special NIA court in Mumbai has directed all accused including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit in connection with Malegaon 2008 blast case to remain present before the court at least once a week. 

The Court expressed displeasure over their absence in the courtroom. Court also directed that exemption sought without cogent reasons will be rejected. Next hearing will take place on 20th



of this month. 

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

In October last year, the court had framed charges in the case against all the seven accused for terror activities, criminal conspiracy and murder, among others.