2008 Malegaon blast: Court to frame charges on Sept 5

MUMBAI: Paving the way to begin the trial in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, the special court set up to hear the case is likely to frame charges against the five accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni, Ajay Rahirkar, Lt Col Prasad Purohit, Sudhakar Dwivedi alias Swami Amritanand, and Sudhakar Chaturvedi.

Special judge VS Padalkar has asked all the five accused to remain present on September 5 for the same.

The order came after the court on Wednesday rejected the application filed by Purohit seeking to stay the trial till his application filed before the higher courts are decided. The court on Wednesday pointed out that there was no stay from any higher court to prevent commencement

of the trial.

Along with Purohit, Sadhvi and the other accused have approached the Bombay high court to petition for discharge. The special court had in December 2017 rejected discharge pleas of Sadhvi, Purohit, Upadhyay, and Kulkarni.

In December 2017, the special court had ordered to drop the charges of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against all the

accused booked in connection with 2008 Malegaon blast case. Since the order of the court, the case has been pending for framing of charges and only after that is done, can the trial begin.

Meanwhile, the special judge issued a non-bailable warrant against Dwivedi as he failed to remain present before the court. The court observed that neither did he nor his lawyer submit an application seeking exemption from appearance.