Click to play videoMumbai: The Malegaon bomb blast case investigations exposed Hindu terror groups for the first time in India. On Tuesday, the Maharashtra Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) filed a 4,000 page chargesheet in the case after three and a half months of investigation.
In the chargesheet 11 men and women have been accused of having planned and executed the blasts on September 29, 2008 bomb blast in Malegaon which claimed the lives of seven people.
The 4,000 page chargesheet says that RDX was used and the accused have been charged under various sections of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
"Malegaon was selected as the blast site because of its population. Chargesheet against 11 people have been filed and all the evidence is before the court," ATS chief KP Raghuvanshi said.
According to the ATS Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Lieutenant Colonel Srikant Prasad Purohit, and Swami Dayanand Pandey are the main conspirators.
It was Dayanand Pandey who instructed Lt Col Purohit to arrange for the RDX and sadhvi is the owner of motorcycle used in blast. Ajay Rahirkar is the man who organised finances while conspiracy meetings were organised on the campus of Bhonsala Military School Nashik. GFX OUT
But there is one setback as the police has failed to get the chargesheet on record in the MCOCA court.
The very fact that the ATS could not manage to get the chargesheet admitted in the court in first attempt itself is indicative enough of the technical hurdles the prosecution is likely to face in this long drawn legal battle.
The prosecution will now have to even convince the court about the merit and the manner in which MCOCA has been applied on the accused.
Meanwhile, the defence is questioning the manner in which MCOCA has been applied on the accused.
"There are two chargesheets. Against none of the accused the cognisance has been taken by the court in the past and therefore they do not qualify. Application of MCOCA appears malafide," defence lawyer Shrikant Shivade said.
The court is expected to pass an order on the chargesheet on Wednesday. it will then pave way for the trial to commence in the case which claims to have unraveled the Hindu terror network across India.
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