Mumbai: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Tuesday granted bail to two more accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case.
The court asked the accused — Sudhakar Omprakash Chaturvedi alias Chanakya Sudhakar and Swami Amritanand alias Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi — to furnish ₹5 lakh as personal bond and surety. The accused filed bail pleas on the ground of parity and differences in the findings of the NIA and the Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS). The court is hearing arguments on framing of charges against all the accused in the case.
On August 21, the Supreme Court had granted bail to Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit and the Bombay High Court granted bail to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. Six people were killed and 101 injured in the blasts on September 29, 2008.
According to the chargesheet filed by the ATS, Chaturvedi was arrested after RDX was recovered from his house. Dwivedi is suspected to be the key conspirator in the case. The supplementary chargesheet filed by the NIA includes Dwidevi’s confessional statement. He said that Ms. Thakur had brought two men and introduced them as Ramji and Dange and said “they are my reliable men”.
However, the NIA court said, “Since provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act are not being invoked in this chargesheet, this confessional statement does not have any evidentiary value.”
The NIA did not invoke charges of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against any of the accused. They have been booked only under sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the Arms Act, and the Explosives Substances Act.
