The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court on Tuesday remanded Ajay Rahirkar, accused in the September 29 Malegaon blast and the treasurer of right wing group Abhinav Bharat, to police custody till December 20. Eight other accused including prime accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur were sent to judicial custody till December 29. The prosecution had sought Rahirkar's custody on the grounds that Rahirkar transferred funds from Abhinav Bharat's treasury.
Dismissing her bail plea, a bench of justices J M Panchal and H L Gokhale said, "There is no merit in the petition".
Throwing its weight behind the Malegaon blast accused, including sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a group of advocates in Sonepat have set up a 17-member lawyers committee to provide legal assistance to them. The Hindu Unification Movement Legal and Welfare Association will provide legal assistance to the sadhvi and other accused, according to Bhupeshwar Dayal Gaur, a founder-member of the association.
Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad is considering pressing charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against all the nine accused in the Malegaon blast case, including Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.The ATS is investigating transfer of funds from the bank account of Lt. Col. Purohit, the first serving army officer to be arrested in the case, to Rahirkar and others for execution of the alleged conspiracy.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and another person, arrested for their alleged involvement in the September 29 Malegaon blast, were subjected to narco-analysis tests in Mumbai on Monday.The Sadhvi and Sameer Kulkarni underwent the scientific tests conducted by officials of the Forensic Science Laboratory in a hospital in south Mumbai, Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad officials said.The tests on former army officer Ramesh Upadhyay is likely to be conducted on Wednesday.
Nashik-based Bhonsalal Military School (BMS) on Friday said no meeting took place in the institution among retired major Ramesh Shivji Upadhyay, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and a serving lieutanant Colonel, who have been interrogated in connection with the Malegaon blasts.
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.
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.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, who is facing charges under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act for her alleged involvement in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, has moved the Supreme Court for bail. The petition is listed for hearing on Monday before a bench comprising Justices J M Panchal and Gyan Sudha Mishra. Pragya's counsel Sushil Balwada has filed the petition challenging the denial of bail by the Bombay high court.
Dr Ram Puniyani, member of the EKTA, Committee for Communal Amity, Mumbai, speaks about the arrests of Muslim youth in Maharashtra.
Shooters of underworld don Chhota Shakeel gang were targeting not only the lawyer of Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Varun Gandhi but also the advocates of right wing Hindu activist Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, who is the prime accused in the Malegaon blasts case. "Our probe revealed that they (the shooters of Chhota Shakeel gang) wanted to eliminate lawyers of Pragya Thakur," said sources in the Mumbai Crime Branch.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was on Monday presented before a court here in an ambulance parked inside the premises, in the Sunil Joshi murder case, as she was unable to step out due to spine problems.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, one of the prime accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, suffered a mild heart attack on Wednesday night and her condition is now stable, hospital sources said on Thursday.
The Bombay High Court on Friday rejected the plea of 2008 Malegaon blast case prime accused sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur for liberty observing that no case had been made out for granting bail.
The Maharashtra Anti-terror Squad made a very important arrest in the Malegaon blast case late Monday night. Praveen Muthalik, who is said to be one of the executors of the blast was arrested and later remanded in police custody till February 14. He had been absconding for nearly two years.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, one of the prime accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, on Tuesday approached the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court seeking home food alleging that she is being served non-vegetarian food in the prison.
Sadhvi Pragya's statements will be crucial to the Malegaon investigation. Her advocate Ganesh Sovani, however, points out that they have not decided as of yet to challenge CBI's re-investigation of the case.
The Bombay High Court has reserved its order on the bail plea of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, prime accused in the September 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case.After the trial court rejected her bail plea, Sadhvi moved the high court seeking liberty on the ground that the charge sheet had not been filed within the stipulated 90-day period.
Apparently distancing itself from the Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur episode, the Hindu Mahasabha has said it does not support terrorism by anyone and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of encashing on Hindu sentiments by coming out in support of the Malegaon blast accused."The BJP is encashing on religious sentiments of Hindus again for their politics. Earlier they had encashed on the Ram janmabhoomi issue and this time it wants to encash on Malegaon," the ABHM said.
"It has become clear that the ATS is acting in a politically-motivated and unprofessional manner. After going through her (sadhvi Pragya) affidavit, I have to express my shock and outrage, which I am sure all Indians will share," BJP leader L K Advani said during his one-day tour of the poll-bound BJP-ruled Chattisgarh state.
Stating that the Shiv Sena was ready to provide the best lawyers to defend Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, arrested in connection with the Malegaon blast, Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Monday ridiculed Congress Member of Parliament Gurudas Kamat, who has demanded his arrest for backing her. "Whenever Congressmen have feats of Muslim appeasement, they dream of my arrest," Thackeray said in an editorial in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana.
The principal of the Bhonsala Military School in Nashik was on Friday detained by the Anti Terrorism Squad for questioning in the September 29 Malegaon blasts even as prime accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was brought to Mumbai for brain mapping and polygraph tests.
Malegaon blast prime accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur had met the wanted accused Ramji Kalsangra two days before her arrest, and expressed apprehensions over police tracing the scooter used in the explosion to her, according to a witness statement.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur has decided to move the Bombay High Court challenging the provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crimes Act which has been slapped against her in connection with the Malegaon case.
Pakistan's demand to hand over Lt Colonel Purohit in connection with the Samjahutha Express blast will turn out to be a damp squib considering the fact that the chargesheet filed by the Mumbai ATS makes no mention of the case.
The Anti Terrorism Squad on Wednesday told the MCOCA court hearing the case into the September 2008 Malegaon blast that it has video recordings of a meeting in which the blast accused were present
The special MCOCA court on Tuesday directed the state to file its reply to the allegations of physical torture levelled by sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt Col Purohit and others accused in the Malegaon blast case
Special counsel for ATS Ajay Misar argued before the court that since investigation into the blast was still on, the judicial remand of the accused should be extended.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in the Malegaon blast, has alleged that she has been tortured and ill-treated by the Anti-Terrorism Squad, her counsel told a court here today.
Public prosecutor Ajay Mishra said the crime committed by the three was a "serious offence" and they were booked under charges of murder, attempt to murder and voluntarily causing grievous hurt under IPC Sections 302, 307 and 326 respectively
Police were probing the links of right-wing group Sanatan Saunstha with the blast that took place at 9.30 pm on Friday night when explosives kept in a scooter went off on a busy street in Margao, 30 km from Panaji.
Two persons were critically injured and three vehicles gutted when an explosive hidden in a scooter went off on a busy street in the heart of Margao town, 30 km from Panaji.
"I will rather die than get admitted in the J J hospital," is what Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in the Malegaon blasts case had to say.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, the prime accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, has threatened to kill herself, alleging ill-treatment meted out to her in jail. In a letter dated July 11 addressed to the media, the Sadhvi states that she is fed up with the manner in which she is being treated by the police, hospital and jail authorities and threatened to commit suicide in the Byculla jail, where she is currently lodged.
The Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, an 89-year old largest such Islamic body in the country that issued a 'fatwa' signed by 6,000 Muslim clerics in Hyderabad ten days ago against terrorism, on Monday moved the Supreme Court for release of a large number of Muslim youths held in connections with blasts in Malegaon in 2001, 2006 and 2008.
The NIA has found nothing to suggest that Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and 3 others were involved in Malegaon and Samjhauta blasts accused Sunil Joshi's murder, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
Shashi Tharoor has also been retained as the chairman of the panel on Information Technology.
The EC on Saturday had issued a show-cause notice to Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast accused currently out on bail, over her remark made during an interview to a news channel.
In a judgment that seeks to define the role of the National Investigation Agency, the Bombay high court has ruled that as a matter of general rule the agency cannot be prohibited from carrying out fresh investigations or re-investigations in specific cases.
The EC takes action for her remarks on former anti-terror squad chief Hemant Karkare and Babri mosque demolition