The Maharashtra government has filed an appeal in the Bombay High Court challenging the revocation of the provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act in the September 2008 Malegaon blasts case. The high court on Monday adjourned the matter to September 8 after directing the state to serve a copy of the appeal to all the 11 arrested accused in the case. A special MCOCA court had on July 31 dropped all the charges of MCOCA from the case.
The Supreme Court refused to interfere with an order dismissing Jacqueline Fernandez's plea to quash an ECIR in a Rs 200 crore money laundering case involving Sukesh Chandrasekhar.
Police are examining the past records of the arrested men in the sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh murder case and a related case of extortion to decide if the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) should be invoked, sources said on Thursday. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he had requested senior lawyer Ujjwal Nikam to appear as a special prosecutor in the murder case. The Crime Investigation Department (CID) has sought old case papers and chargesheets against the arrested men. Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed, was abducted and brutally killed on December 9, allegedly for opposing an extortion bid by some persons who had demanded money from a windmill company. Beed Police has put up posters seeking information about whereabouts of three wanted accused in the murder case. CM Fadnavis said he spoke to BJP MLA from Beed, Suresh Dhas who demanded that Nikam be appointed as special public prosecutor in the case. Nikam was a special public prosecutor in several high-profile cases, including the 26/11 terror attacks and 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts. Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar claimed that "smaller fish" could be killed in fake encounters to save the "big fish" involved in the Deshmukh murder and extortion cases. Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra legislative council Ambadas Danve said the trial in the case should be conducted outside Beed district. NCP leader Dhananjay Munde, who has come under fire after the alleged involvement of his aide Karad in the extortion matter came to light, said those who murdered Santosh Deshmukh should be tried in a fast-track court and "hanged till death." The government on Wednesday set up a 10-member SIT to probe the case, headed by Deputy Inspector General -CID Basavraj Teli.
Former MLA Zeeshan Siddique has named several builders and politicians in his statement to police, alleging their involvement in the murder of his father and NCP leader Baba Siddique. Zeeshan claims that developers were in frequent contact with his father regarding redevelopment projects and that one builder used abusive language towards his father during a meeting. He also alleges a false case was registered against him for opposing a redevelopment project. This information is part of a 4,500-page chargesheet filed by police in connection with Baba Siddique's murder.
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, accused in the Malegaon blast case, has filed an application in the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court.Thakur has requested the court to direct the probe team, which is scheduled to take her to Bhopal in connection with the murder case of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh activist Sunil Joshi, to let her travel in an air-conditioned compartment. Sunil Joshi's name had cropped up during the investigation of the Malegaon blasts case.
Nineteen years later, remembering how terror struck Mumbai's lifeline on July 11, 2006.
The blame must be shared by the investigating agencies, the government of the day and the nation at large, points out Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The Supreme Court has stayed the Bombay High Court verdict acquitting all 12 accused in the 2006 Mumbai train bomb blasts case, issuing notices and seeking responses from the accused.
A Special Investigation Team of Maharashtra Police told a court at Beed on Wednesday that Santosh Deshmukh was killed because he was thought to be an obstacle in a plan to extort Rs 2 crore from an energy firm, and Walmik Karad was in contact with his killers when the crime was executed.
In a new twist to veteran crime reporter J Dey murder case, police on Friday arrested Jigna Vora, a senior woman journalist under the stringent Maharashtra control of Organised Crime Act for allegedly abetting the crime.
Khan's statement and the contents of the FIR at this stage indicate "the shots were fired in the direction of his place of use in his house", the court said in its order.
Delhi police arrest 13 individuals, including minors, for the murder and sexual assault of a 14-year-old boy, allegedly in retaliation for informing on a rival gang member.
The resignation followed a vociferous demand by the opposition for Munde's removal from the cabinet.
'The law under the guise of security represents a grave and unnecessary expansion of State power at the cost of fundamental rights,' asserts Aakar Patel.
Both Lawrence and Anmol Bishnoi have been named as wanted accused in the April 14 firing incident outside the Bollywood actor Salman Khan's Galaxy Apartment in Mumbai's Bandra area.
A special court on Thursday said the application of provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act in the Malegaon blast case by the Maharashtra police was valid.After perusing the chargesheet, special MCOCA judge Y D Shinde said prima facie there was evidence to invoke MCOCA in the case.The over 4,000-page chargesheet had been filed by the ATS against 14 accused in the case charging them under MCOCA.
Gangster Anmol Bishnoi had ordered the hit on Nationalist Congress Party leader Baba Siddique for his 'association with Dawood Ibrahim and involvement in the 1993 Bombay blasts', alleged main shooter Shivkumar Gautam in his confessional statement to the police.
The film financier is charged under MCOCA and accused of colluding with the underworld.
Shetty was shot dead by two alleged members of Rajan's gang on the hotel's first floor on May 4, 2001.
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.
The sons of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, Syed Ahmad Shakeel and Syed Shahid Yusuf, have challenged a rule in the Delhi Prison Rules that bars those accused of offences against the state, terrorist activities, and other heinous crimes from using telephonic and electronic communication facilities. The two prisoners, currently lodged in different Delhi jails, are seeking restoration of their phone call facilities, alleging that the restrictions are arbitrary and unreasonable. The Delhi High Court has posted the matter for further hearing on May 22.
"You will create history by doing this job and your name will be there in all newspapers and other media," it said, citing their conversation.
In a major setback to the Mumbai police, a court here today dropped the charges under stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against the 23 persons arrested for having links with terrorist group Indian Mujahideen.
The crime branch named 29 accused in the 4,590-page charge sheet, including 26 already arrested and three wanted persons, including Anmol Bishnoi, the brother of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi.
A suspended police sub-inspector from Beed, Maharashtra, India, has alleged that he was offered money to carry out an "encounter" of Walmik Karad, an accused in the murder case of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh. The suspended cop, Ranjeet Kasle, claims he mentioned the names of the individuals who made the offer in a local police station diary. However, a senior police official from Beed has dismissed Kasle's claims as baseless and demanded proof. Kasle was suspended earlier while serving as a sub-inspector in the local cyber crime department. Deshmukh, the sarpanch of Massajog village, was abducted and killed last December allegedly for attempting to stop extortion targeting an energy company. Karad is among eight individuals arrested in connection with the murder and charged under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). The state Crime Investigation Department (CID) filed a chargesheet in the case last month. Kasle's claims come amidst ongoing investigations into the custodial death of Badlapur sexual assault case accused Akshay Shinde. Kasle has demanded a central government SIT to investigate Shinde's death, believing it will reveal the truth.
Special CBI Judge Vinod Kumar said this after the agency informed the court that there was a "serious life threat" to Rajan from various underworld mafia groups and intelligence inputs have been received in this regard.
Refusing to grant additional time to the accused in the July 11 serial blasts to prepare themselves, a special MCOCA court on Thursday discharged the first witness and summoned the second witness in the trial on January 11.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has demanded the death penalty for those involved in the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, calling the crime "heinous." Shinde said that no one involved in the case, including Walmik Karad, a close aide of NCP minister Dhananjay Munde, will be spared. Deshmukh was abducted and tortured to death on December 9 after he resisted an extortion attempt targeting an energy company operating a windmill project in the area. Karad was arrested in the extortion case linked to the murder after he surrendered to police in Pune on December 31.
Principal sessions judge A P Bhangale while dismissing the application said that it was not in the jurisdiction of his court to decide whether to transfer the case or not.
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.
Gangster-turned-politician Arun Gawli was on Friday sentenced to life imprisonment by a special MCOCA court in Shiv Sena corporator Kamlakar Jamsandekar murder case.
Walmik Karad, a close aide of Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde, has been charged with ordering the murder of sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, who allegedly opposed Karad's extortion bid targeting a wind energy company. According to a chargesheet filed by the state Crime Investigation Department (CID), Karad allegedly asked his associates to "eliminate" anyone who interfered with their extortion attempt. Deshmukh was abducted, tortured, and murdered in December 2024 after he attempted to stop the extortion bid. Karad and several others have been charged with murder, extortion, and organized crime.
The accused persons had approached the apex court challenging the denial of their bail,.
Thirteen arrested persons stand accused in the case and MCOCA court judge M R Bhatkar had framed charges against them on August 7 this year. Apart from the 13 arrested, 15 others have been named as absconding accused, including LeT commander in chief Azam Cheema and two others who are no longer alive -- Salim died in the blasts and Abu Osama died in an encounter with the police.Among the thirteen accused is Faisal Shaikh, who is considered to be the key conspirator.
Beleaguered Maharashtra minister Dhananjay Munde resigned from the cabinet on Tuesday, days after his close aide Walmik Karad was named as the mastermind in the murder of a village sarpanch and three months after the new Mahayuti government assumed office.
All 10 accused in the Malegaon blast case have been booked under stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.
However, the court has struck down certain provisions of MCOCA
'At that time the Delhi police was reeling under various controversies. This case was more of an attention diversion.'
Suspended cricketer S Sreesanth on Tuesday moved fresh bail application before a Delhi court after the police invoked stringent MCOCA against him and others in the IPL spot-fixing scandal.
The court ruling came following a state government appeal against the sessions court decision to set aside MCOCA against the Sadhvi and others.
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