The Hindu : Front Page : Police remand for Rahirkar

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Wednesday, Dec 17, 2008
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Police remand for Rahirkar

Staff Reporter

Judicial custody for other accused in Malegaon case

— Photos: PTI/ Santosh Hirlekar

Malegaon blast accused Dayanand Pandey and Pragnya Singh Thakur being brought to a Mumbai court on Tuesday.

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act (MCOCA) court on Tuesday remanded Ajay Rahirkar to police custody till December 20 in connection with the Malegaon blasts of September 29.

The 10 other accused, including Sudhakar Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey, were given judicial custody till December 29, said public prosecutor Rohini Salian.

The Anti-Terrorism Squad contended that it wanted to investigate the financial angle where Rahirkar allegedly played a key role as the treasurer of the Pune-based Abhinav Bharat organisation. The prosecution submitted statements of witnesses, who claimed that Rahirkar had collected Rs. 10 lakh from them.

Then, at the behest of another suspect Lieutenant-Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit, he allegedly disbursed this amount among other suspects to procure arms and ammunition.

Rahirkar’s lawyer V.T. Tulpule argued that the transactions were made by cheques. Therefore, they were audited.

Y.D. Shinde, additional judge of the special MCOCA court referred to the case diaries, which Ms. Salian said had a new development, in Rahirkar’s case.

She did not reveal what it was.

The prosecution also wanted Rahirkar’s signature specimen, Mr. Tulpule said.

The ATS opposed the bail applications of Rahirkar and Purohit, stating that they were filed at a “premature” juncture. The hearing on these will take place on December 29.

Out of the accused, only Rakesh Dhawde was not produced in court as he is currently in CBI custody till December 19 for his alleged role in the Nanded blast. The CBI has reopened the Nanded case.

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