Disposing of the plea on August 1, special judge AK Lahoti, however, noted the contentions raised by the accused are kept open and he is at liberty to point them out at the time of final hearing.
The Maharashtra Director General of Police D Sivanandan has admitted that the investigations by the state Anti-Terrorism Squad into the February 13 German Bakery terror attack have gone wrong.
The voluminous chargesheet filed by the Anti-Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra Police has clearly stated that Rakesh Dattatraya Dhawade, one of the accused in the Malegaon case, had made arrangements and facilitated training to the accused persons in the Nanded bomb blasts in 2006. Six people were killed in the Malegaon explosions while the Nanded blasts claimed the lives of two persons.
The Mumbai ATS is interrogating a junior commissioned officer and two jawans of the Indian Army in connection with the Malegaon blast case, defence sources have said.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday said the National Investigation Agency taking over the case of a vehicle laden with explosives being found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence in Mumbai suggests something was 'fishy'.
The Centre is waiting for the report of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad, which is probing the blast in Pune, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday.
Investigators are on the verge of cracking the July 13 Mumbai blasts case, Maharashtra Director General of Police Ajit Parasnis on Sunday said and hoped "very soon things will come out". His remark came a day after he stated the terror group responsible for the blasts had been identified.
Dr Ram Puniyani, member of the EKTA, Committee for Communal Amity, Mumbai, speaks about the arrests of Muslim youth in Maharashtra.
The suspect, identified as Junaid, a resident of Pune, was connected to the LeT's terror network through social media, the official said.
The Maharashtra government, reeling under criticism over handling of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, has received another jolt with the widow of former Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare saying the state police force is ill-equipped to fight terrorists.
Maharashtra Forensic Laboratory will soon complete the testing of blood samples of slain Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare and two other police officers, who were killed in the terror attack in Mumbai last month, for alcohol content, laboratory sources said.State FSL at Kailna said that it has received the blood samples of the officers, who were killed by the terrorists on November 26, and the results will be handed over to the investigating authorities.
A day after Param Bir Singh was shunted out as Mumbai police commissioner, Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Thursday said he was transferred after some of his colleagues committed 'serious and unforgivable mistakes'.
A proposal to ban the Sanstha is pending with the Maharashtra government since last year, a top ATS officer said on Tuesday.
A special court on Tuesday allowed Anti-Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra police to subject suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative Mohammed Aslam alias Saleem to scientific tests to find out his role in the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.
Taquee appeared before the ATS office on Sunday in pursuant to an order from the Supreme Court which asked him to report to the investigating officer of the 13/7 blasts case for recording of his statement.
This is what a defiant and talkative Abu Jundal, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative and key 26/11 handler who is in the custody of the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad told his interrogators. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
Key handler of 26/11 and Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorist Abu Jundal was on Thursday remanded in judicial custody by a Delhi court after the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad produced him and stated that he was no longer wanted for interrogation in cases registered against him in Maharashtra. Jundal was produced before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vidya Parkash by the Mumbai ATS and was sent to Tihar jail.
A special court in Mumbai on Friday extended the police custody of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative and key 26/11 handler Sayed Zabiuddin Ansari alias Abu Jundal till September 3 in connection with the 2006 Aurangabad arms haul case.
An Anti-terrorism Squad from Maharashtra on Sunday visited several places in Bhatkal in Uttara Kannada district and questioned some persons as part of the investigation into the July 13 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai.
26/11 handler Abu Jundal has been in custody of the Delhi police's special cell since June 21, but insiders say that his 'real' interrogation is yet to begin. Vicky Nanjappa reports
With several suspected terrorist being nabbed in the state for alleged links with ISIS, the Shiv Sena on Monday urged the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis-led Government to make proactive efforts to curb the expansion of the deadly terror outfit.
In an embarrassment to Digvijay Singh, Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil on Thursday said there was existence of any record of the purported telephonic conversation between the Congress general secretary and slain Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Hemant Karkare.
Nothing substantial was found about the role of two alleged Lashkar-e-Tayiba operatives in the Bengaluru twin blasts after their questioning, the Anti-Terrorism Squad said on Thursday. On Tuesday, the ATS arrested Mirza Himayat Baig, 29, who allegedly heads the LeT's operations in Maharashtra, from Pune and his aide Shaikh Lalbaba Mohammed Hussain alias Bilal, 27, from Nashik.
One person has been arrested from Nashik and another detained from Jalgaon in connection with the threat call made at the residence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan. "One Abdul Gani Shah has been arrested from Nashik. According to the preliminary inquiry, he made the call to the CM's residence from outside Dheolali railway station. We have recovered eight SIM cards from him and a diary containing the telephone numbers of several ministers," said ATS chief.
The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court in Mumbai on Saturday passed an order prohibiting the media from publishing anything pertaining to investigations in the serial train blasts here in July 2007.
In a first, the Maharashtra government has announced a ban on two wheelers on Ananth Chaturthi, the day the city will bid adieu to Lord Ganesha. The ban will be enforced on Sunday only on immersion routes across the state.
Amid reports that Pakistan may seek extradition of Malegaon blast accused Lieuteant Colonel Shrikant Purohit in the Samjhauta Express blast case, India on Tuesday virtually rejected the demand, saying Islamabad had no locus standi in the investigations involving the Army officer."The case (Malegaon blast) is under examination by the Anti-Terror Squad (of Maharashtra Police). It is our internal matter. We are investigating it. How can Pakistan be concerned with that,"he said.
Refusing to order judicial probe into the alleged fake encounter of one Mohammad Ali in 2006 by the state Anti Terrorism Squad, the Bombay high court on Tuesday asked the petitioner to approach police with his complaint.
Union home minister P Chidambaram has complimented the Anti Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra, the Pune police and the central agencies for the arrest of Abdul Sammad Bhatkal, the suspected mastermind behind the Pune bomb blast.
The activist's family members last month filed an application in the high court seeking for the probe to be transferred to the ATS claiming that the SIT has not been able to make a breakthrough in the case yet.
The National Investigation Agency, which has been struggling to collect evidence in the 2006 Malegaon blast case, is likely to quiz some of the Maharashtra ATS officials who had probed the case.
Terming the invocation of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against them as inappropriate, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit and Abhinav Bharat treasurer Ajay Rahirkar, both accused in the September 29 Malegaon blast case, on Saturday moved the special MCOCA court seeking bail.Purohit and Rahirkar, in their bail applications, claimed that the Anti-Terrorism Squad had no evidence linking them to the blast and that they have nothing to do with the case.
A Pune court on Friday rejected Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Purohit's plea for an extension of his police custody in the city. Purohit's lawyer Shrikant Shivde told rediff.com that the armyman had been physically and mentally tortured by the ATS, while he was in their custody.
The bomb that exploded in Pune last week was made by mixing ammonium nitrate with potassium chlorate and small ball bearings were used as shrapnels to inflict injuries, but there was no gelatin or RDX in it, Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Sqaud said on Thursday.
The celebrated police officer was also involved in numerous operations against gangsters in Mumbai and terrorists during his decades-long career.
The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad on Saturday procured transit remand for the key accused in the 2000 Kanpur bomb blast case from a local court in Mumbai.
The Anti-Terrorism Squad in Maharashtra on Tuesday arrested two more persons in connection with the Thane auditorium blast case earlier this month, taking the number of arrested to four. Vikram Bhave and Santosh Angre were arrested in connection with the blast which injured seven people, a senior ATS officer said.
Mumbai police has received text messages warning of a '26/11-like' attack on the city from a phone number with Pakistan's country code and a person has been detained in this connection, officials said on Saturday.
Under attack over his claim about a call from late top cop Hemant Karkare, Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Tuesday produced a record of the conversation the slain Anti-Terrorism Squad chief had with him on 26/11 and sought an apology from Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil and all others who had dubbed him a 'liar'.
Exactly a year after the Malegaon blast shook the powerloom town in Maharashtra leaving seven people dead, one of the surviving victims has revealed that he had alerted the local police about an abandoned scooter, but no action had been taken.