An alleged associate of underworld don Chhota Shakeel and a businessman were arrested under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act charges for allegedly threatening Congress Member of Legislative Assembly Baba Siddiqui over a property dispute, the police said in Mumbai.
The National Investigating Agency has raised questions over the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad's handling of the Malegaon blast case.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad of the Maharashtra police on Wednesday told the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court in Mumbai that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative and a key 26/11 handler Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal was involved in terror activities since as far back as 1996.
He said he's languishing in jail for nine years without even charges being framed against him.
Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative Zabiuddin Ansari, alias Abu Jundal, an accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks and several other cases, today orally retracted his confession, claiming before a MCOCA court here that he has been falsely implicated and his signature obtained under duress.
The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) on Sunday decided not to challenge the Board of Control for Cricket in India-imposed life ban on tainted player Ankeet Chavan despite a Delhi Court dropping criminal charges against him
Gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli was on Friday convicted along with 11 others by the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court for their involvement in the murder of Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar over four years back.
Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) probing the 2006 suburban train blasts, filed an affidavit in the Bombay high court today saying that it had destroyed call data records (CDRs) of all the 13 accused.
The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court on Tuesday rejected the bail application of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, the key accused in the 2008 Malegoan blast.
The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court on Tuesday remanded Lashlar-e-Tayiba operative and key 26/11 handler Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal in Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad custody till August 24 in connection with the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.
In a setback to investigations in senior journalist J Dey murder case, a forensic lab on Monday informed a special court that SMSes allegedly deleted by accused fellow scribe Jigna Vora could not be retrieved.
In the arms case, a Maharashtra ATS team had chased a Tata Sumo and an Indica car on the Chandwad-Manmad Highway on May 8, 2006, and arrested three terror suspects while seizing a huge cache of 30 kg RDX, 10 AK-47s and 3,200 bullets from the vehicle and along the road. The Indica, which was allegedly driven by Jundal, who hails from Beed district, however, could not be intercepted at that time, according to ATS.
National Investigation Agency on Monday formally arrested Lokesh Sharma, already in judicial custody in connection with the Samjhauta train bombing case, for his alleged role in the 2008 Malegaon blast.
Ethesham Siddiqui (31), lodged in Central Jail at Arthur Road in Mumbai, has also done certificate courses in Urdu, Arabic languages and Human Rights, according to a lawyer from Jamiat-ul-Ulema, which is providing free legal aid to Ethesham and some others accused.
The Delhi high court on Friday rapped the city police for being "lax" while filing the chargesheet against underworld don Abu Salem under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act when it was in "contravention" of the extradition agreement with Portugal.
Observing that she has a child to look after and is a single parent, a Special Court on Friday granted bail to Jigna Vora. Vora was held under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act for her alleged complicity in the murder of fellow journalist Jyotirmoy Dey.
Prosecutor Dilip Shah told the court that the Crime Branch was not pressing for police custody of the duo as they were not required for custodial interrogation any further.
The Bombay high court has set aside a lower court order which had kept the trial against a bomb blast accused in abeyance as he was facing charges in another case under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. Rakesh Dhawade, accused in a blast which occurred in Masjid at Jalna in 2004, had challenged the order of a sessions court, in which the judge held that the case should be kept in abeyance in view of Section 10 of MCOCA.
A sessions court on Friday convicted six accused in the murder case of matka-king Suresh Bhagat, including his wife and son.
The National Investigation Agency on Saturday opposed the bail plea of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a key accused in the Malegaon blast case, in the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court. The agency said that she aided and abetted the other accused with the full knowledge of the terror strike and had offered all support to them. On November 18, Thakur had filed a bail application in the special MCOCA court for the third time.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Monday came in defence of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Colonel Prasad Purohit, prime accused in the Malegaon blasts, and called the imposition of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against them as 'political conspiracy'.
The bail plea of nine persons accused in the 2006 Malegaon blasts has been rejected by a special MCOCA court in Mumbai on Tuesday. The nine accused had moved the special MCOCA court in February seeking bail on the basis of the confessional statement of Swami Aseemanand, a key accused in the Samjhauta Express blasts case. Aseemanand had alleged that right-wing groups were involved in the 2006 bombings.The anti-terrorism squad of the Maharashtra police had investigated the case
Dismissing her bail plea, a bench of justices J M Panchal and H L Gokhale said, "There is no merit in the petition".
Praveen Mutalik, an absconding accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, has been arrested from Karnataka by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad.
In a fresh development in the 2006 Malegaon blast probe, a special court on Thursday granted permission to the Central Bureau of Investigation for reinvestigating the case in wake of "confession" statements made by Swami Aseemanand linking Hindu groups to terror acts.
A division bench dismissed an appeal filed by her against a Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court order, refusing bail to her on medical grounds.
"The MP police moved an application in the special MCOCA court here, and after taking the court's permission they placed Sadhvi under arrest in the Sunil Joshi murder case," Rohini Salian, Special Public Prosecutor, told PTI.
Tainted Rajasthan Royals spinner Ajit Chandila claims innocence in the IPL spot-fixing episode and says the Delhi Police's decision to slap the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) charges against him is completely unfair, as he is a "cricketer and not a terrorist".
In its verdict, the court had held 12 other accused guilty of various charges. Arguments for the quantum of sentence are likely to begin on Monday.
She was being shifted from Nashik Ayurvedic Hospital to JJ Hospital in Mumbai following a court order. However, she developed chest pain after starting for Mumbai at around 1.30 pm, her lawyer Umesh Walzade told PTI.
Suspended cricketer Ajit Chandila, arrested in connection with the IPL spot-fixing scandal, on Monday claimed in a Delhi court that he has been "falsely implicated" in the case and there was no evidence of his alleged links with either underworld don Dawood Ibrahim or Chhota Shakeel.
Sadhvi Pragya had moved the court earlier this month seeking her discharge in the Malegoan bomb blast case.
Seven accused in the Malegaon blast case, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, were today remanded in judicial custody till December 3 by a MCOCA court.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, the main accused in the Malegaon blast case, has moved the Bombay High Court seeking bail, after her plea was rejected by the Maharashtra Control Of Organised Crime Act court. The court on Friday adjourned the hearing for two weeks as the Anti Terrorism Squad sought time to file its reply. Earlier, the special MCOCA court had rejected her bail application. According to Thakur's lawyer, advocate Ganesh Sowani, she had been illegally detained.
Dr Ram Puniyani, member of the EKTA, Committee for Communal Amity, Mumbai, speaks about the arrests of Muslim youth in Maharashtra.
The Anti-Terrorist Squad of the Mumbai police suffered a major setback last week, when charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against Sadhvi Pragya Singh, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit and nine other accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, were dropped by the special court's designated Judge Y B Shinde.Dropping MCOCA charges against the prime accused in the Malegaon blast case has definitely made the prosecution's task tougher.
All the 11 accused in Malegaon blast case, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, were today remanded to judicial custody till January 20 by a special MCOCA court here.
Open non-bailable warrants were slapped today on Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and Chhota Shakeel by a Delhi court in connection with the IPL spot-fixing scandal.
Former union law minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley has questioned the intention of the Centre in communalising the situation arising out of Malegoan blasts.
Journalist Ketan Tirodkar, who stirred a hornet's nest by alleging an underworld-police nexus in Maharashtra, was arrested by the Mumbai Crime Branch under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act on Friday.