Malegaon blast case: BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and six others to appear before NIA special court on September 25

Seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case including BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Colonel Prasad Purohit have been asked to appear before a special NIA court in Mumbai on September 25. Their statements will be recorded and the court will go through the evidence before pronouncing judgement on the case.

Mumbai:BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur along with all others accused in the Mumbai Malegaon blast case will have to appear before a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai on September 25. An order in this regard was issued by the special court on September 15.

On September 29, 2008, six persons were killed and more than 100 were injured in a bomb blast in Maharashtra's Malegaon. The examination of witnesses in the case has been completed and now the special court of NIA has directed all the accused to appear before it. Earlier, many accused had appeared before court while many witnesses turned hostile. The special court has ordered all seven accused to be present in person before it on September 25.

During the hearing, the court will give an opportunity to the accused to present their statements and will also hear the evidence along with the information collected against the accused in the case. After going through the evidence and information, the court will give an opportunity to the accused to clarify their statements before pronouncing its judgement.

A total of 313 witnesses have testified in the Malegaon blast case till now. The NIA had stated in a recent hearing that it was about to end the examination of witnesses. The hearing will be held at a special court of Judge A K Lahoti 10 days later.

In 2017, the special court had dropped the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the accused but they continued to face charges under sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Indian Penal Code. Apart from Thakur, the other accused are Colonel Prasad Purohit, retired (Major) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sameer Kulkarni, Sudhakar Dwivedi and Sudhakar Chaturvedi.