The trial in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case will resume on February 2, when a special court hears arguments on framing of charges against the 12 accused in the case.
The trial, it may be recalled, had run rough weather in the last week of June 2015, after the then special Public Prosecutor Rohini Salian went to town alleging that she was told to go “soft” on the case and requesting the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to denotify her from the case.
Special Prosecutor Prakash Rasal, who represents the NIA in the case, has replaced Ms Salian in the case.
“The court will hear the arguments on framing of charges against the accused from February 2,” Rasal said here on Tuesday.
Six persons were killed and 101 others injured when an explosive-laden lMl Freedom motorbike blew up in a market at Malegaon’s Bhikku Chowk on September 29, 2008.
Maharashtra’s ATS had investigated the case in the beginning. The ATS filed a 4,528-page main charge-sheet in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, in the MCOCA court on January 29, 2009.
On April 21, 2011, the ATS filed a 305-page supplementary charge-sheet against Abhinav Bharat functionary Pravin Mutalik, alleging that he was one of the key conspirators in the September 29, 2008 Malegaon blast case.
Prominent among the 12 accused against whom ATS filed charge-sheet were: lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur alias Purnachetanandagiri, self-proclaimed Shankaracharya Dayanand Pandey alias Sudhakar Dhariwedi, Abhinav Bharat functionaries Pravin Mutalik and Sameer Kulkarni.