The stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act was invoked against a self-styled godman, recently caught here on charges of running a multi-crore sex racket, on Sunday with the police claiming he was "eyeing big donations" from foreign agencies, including Christian missionaries.
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.
The major legal hurdle for the Mumbai police to charge Kasab under MCOCA is that he must be found to be involved in a crime at least twice in the past ten years. The provisions for MCOCA clearly state that a person can only be booked under MCOCA if they have been involved in a crime twice over the past ten years.
The chargesheet against the 21 alleged members of the terrorist group Indian Mujahideen, involved in various serial blasts across the country since 2006, will be filed by the city police on Tuesday.
The charge sheet, running into more than 2,500 pages, was filed under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.
Police have filed an extortion case against Mumbai Deputy Commissioner of Police Akbar Pathan and two other cops, one of them arrested for the killing of businessman Mansukh Hiran, on a complaint by a man who is an accused in a cheating case, an official said on Thursday.
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.
The court ruling came following a state government appeal against the sessions court decision to set aside MCOCA against the Sadhvi and others.
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.
The trial in the 2006 serial blasts in Mumbai trains, in which 187 people were killed and over 800 injured, resumed in Mumbai on Monday before a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court, two years after it was stayed by the Supreme Court court.
Nearly four years after the 7/11 serial train blasts, the trial in the case is all set to resume on Monday in a special court in Mumbai against 13 arrested accused, alleged to be members of the banned terror outfit Students Islamic Movement of India. The Supreme Court had in February 2008 stayed the trial after one of the accused, Kamal Ansari, approached the court challenging the constitutional validity of a particular section pertaining to insurgency in the MCOCA.
The Central Bureau of Investigation got the nod to re-investigate the 2006 Malegaon case on Thursday. The decision by the MCOCA court throws open a lot of questions regarding the earlier investigation and the CBI now has its task cut out since it will not only have to deal with the new set of accused but also with the nine other accused who have been languishing in jail ever since the attack took place.
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.
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.
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.
The most wanted man in connection with the serial blasts, which had claimed 187 lives on July 11, 2006, is Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative Azam Cheema.Cheema, 57, is based at the Bahawalpur camp of the LeT in Pakistan. He has been given the charge of fomenting terror-related activities in Delhi and Mumbai, say sources in the Intelligence Bureau.
The chargesheet against the 21 alleged members of the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, accused of hatching the conspiracy to execute bomb blasts across the country, was on Tuesday filed by the city police in a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act Court in Mumbai.The Mumbai Crime Branch, in an 1800-page chargesheet, has charged all the 21 accused for hatching the conspiracy to execute bomb blasts in various cities of the country.
The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court on Monday rejected the bail application of gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli, arrested in connection with a Shiv Sena leader's murder and extortion case.
A special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court in Mumbai on Monday granted custody of Sameer Kulkarni, one of the founder-members of right-wing group Abhinav Bharat, to the Madhya Pradesh police while remanding ten Malegaon blast accused to judicial custody till January 6.The MP police had sought the custody of Kulkarni, also accused in the September 29 Malegaon blast case, for allegedly instigating a mob to attack a church in Jabalpur and setting it on fire.
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.
Twelve alleged members of the terror outfit Indian Mujahideen, arrested in connection with bomb blasts across the country since 2005, have been remanded to judicial custody till November 17 by a special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court in Mumbai.Judge M R Puranik has, however, transferred the custody of the 12 arrested accused to the Property Cell of the Mumbai crime branch for interrogation in connection with the recovery of stolen vehicles.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday claimed a 'deal of Rs 2,000 crore' has taken place so far to 'purchase' the Shiv Sena party name and its 'bow and arrow' symbol.
The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the decks for the investigation and prosecution of leading Bollywood financer Bharat Shah under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act for his alleged links with the underworld, holding that a telephonic conversation can be the basis of registration of an First Information Report against the person.
Demanding action against those who allegedly put the image of the 18th-century Mysore ruler along with an offensive dialogue on their social media profiles, a group of right-wing activists held a protest on Tuesday. Police pacified them and told them to return.
Assistant Commissioner Kiran Acharekar has been arrested under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
However, the court found fellow gang member Tariq Parveen guilty in the case.
Retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, an accused in the last year's Malegaon bomb blast, on Friday moved to a special court here seeking permission to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
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.
The special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court on Friday extended the judicial custody of the 21 alleged members of the terror group Indian Mujahideen till January 30. Bagwaan has been accused of allegedly training the other IM members on how to administer sedatives on persons they were planning to kidnap.
All 10 accused in the Malegaon blast case have been booked under stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.
Despite being hailed as one of India's most progressive and most developed states, it is witnessing the fallout of lopsided progress.
Thirty-year-old Jitendra Mann 'Gogi', who was shot dead in a crowded Rohini court room on Friday, was one of Delhi's most wanted criminals and the chief of an "extremely sophisticated" organised crime syndicate.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi made a rare appearance at a Bharatiya Janata Party press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday, along with the party's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani.He lamented that the Centre was sitting over his proposal to enact a Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act-type law in Gujarat. Such a law gives the state government a wide range of powers to deal with terrorist activities, he said.
The bench was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Bombay HC lawyer
The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) on Thursday trained its guns on the Adani Group, alleging hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded group stocks through Mauritius-based 'opaque' investment funds managed by partners of promoter family, charges the conglomerate denied vehemently.
The complex stands on a plot of land owned by Central Public Works Department and was illegally built in connivance with municipal officials, according to police.
The officers had allegedly come to the Arthur Road Jail for a surprise check on July 4 when they indirectly told Salem that they were travelling long distances and nobody was taking care of them, Ansari said.
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Surya Kant dismissed the appeals of the accused booked under MCOCA and other provisions under IPC and the gambling and prohibition Act.
