2006 Malegaon case: NIA court rejects bail plea of four accused

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Monday rejected the bail plea of four accused namely Manohar Nawaria, Rajendra Chaudhary, Dhan Singh and Lokesh Sharma in the 2006 Malegaon blasts case.

The four accused had applied for bail in February earlier this year.

The 2006 Malegaon case comprised of two sets of accused.

The investigation in the case has been carried out by three agencies - the Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS), the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the National Investigation Agency (NIA) - over the years.

The NIA is currently probing the case.

The case was handed over to the NIA in 2011 after Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the Ajmer Sharif and Mecca Masjid blasts, in his statement told the magistrate in 2010 that RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi and his men were the master minds in the 2006 Malegaon blasts.

The court had in April this year discharged nine Muslim men, who had been chargesheeted by the ATS and the CBI.