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Malegaon 2008 Blasts
The Bombay High Court on Thursday issued notices to the seven persons acquitted in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, on an appeal filed by the family members of the victims. A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad also issued notices to the prosecution -- National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Maharashtra government -- and posted the appeal for hearing after six weeks. The HC was hearing an appeal filed by the family members of the six persons who lost their lives in the blast against the acquittal judgment. The appeal challenged a special court judgment acquitting the seven accused in the case, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit. The appeal filed last week claimed that a faulty investigation or some defects in the probe cannot be the grounds for acquitting the accused. It also contended that the conspiracy (of the blast) was hatched in secrecy and hence, there cannot be direct evidence of it. The petitioners clai
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing on an appeal against the acquittal of seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case over incomplete details submitted about the appellant family members of victims. The seven accused acquitted in the case included former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit. Earlier, the HC on Tuesday said it was "not an open gate for everyone" to file an appeal against acquittal in the blast case, and sought details if the victims' family members were examined as witnesses in the trial. On Wednesday, the appellants' lawyer submitted a chart of the details, but the bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad said it was incomplete. The family members' lawyer told the bench that the first appellant, Nisar Ahmed, whose son died in the blast, was not a witness in the trial. Ahmed was, however, allowed by the special court to intervene and assist the prosecution during the trial, he said. The lawyer add
A Special NIA court here on Thursday said it will likely give the judgment in the 2008 Malegaon blast case on July 31, noting that the matter has voluminous documents and it needs some time to deliver the verdict. Almost 17 years after the blast, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court had on April 19 reserved the verdict for May 8. However, Special Judge A K Lahoti, presiding over the case, kept it for the next date. The judge told the accused persons, present in the court, that the case has voluminous documents, and it will take some time to pass the judgment. He asked all the accused in the case to be present on July 31, the next date. Six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a town about 200 km from Mumbai in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008. During the trial, the prosecution examined 323 witnesses, of whom 34 turned hostile. Lt Col Prasad Purohit, BJP leader Pragya Thakur, M