Malegaon blast: Bail plea on hold
The special NIA court on Tuesday reserved till June 6 its order on the bail application filed by four accused arrested in connection with the 2006 Malegaon blasts. These accused had filed for bail after a set of Muslim accused, also arrested in the same case, were discharged by the court.
Special judge V.V. Patil on Tuesday reserved order on the bail applications filed by Lokesh Sharma, Dhan Singh, Manohar Singh, and Rajendra Choudhary after defence laywers Prashant Maggu and J.P. Mishra completed their arguments, requesting the court to grant bail to the accused.
Special public prosecutor Prakash Shetty in his arguments had opposed bail applications filed by the accused saying that there was ample evidence against them to show their involvement in the blasts. He had further argued that the crime was of a very serious nature and hence, they should not be granted bail.
On the other hand, defence claimed that the accused had been falsely implicated in the case and there was no concrete evidence against them.
The defence alleged that the entire case of the prosecution against the applicants was based on imagination. According to defence, many things recovered from the applicants were easily available in markets and their recovery did not indicate that the applicants were involved in the blasts or planning to carry out the blasts.
The bombs were planted in a bicycle and exploded immediately after Friday prayers near Hamidia mosque near Bada Kabrastan in 2006. Thirty-eight persons were killed and 100 injured by the serial blasts.
The ATS, which first probed the case, arrested nine Muslim accused on the basis of alleged links with the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). The case was later handed over to the CBI, which endorsed the ATS’s findings.
However on April 6, 2011, the NIA was handed over the case after Swami Aseemanand confessed involvement of the right-wing terror group in the serial blasts.