Bombay HC to hear Lt. Purohit's plea in Malegaon blast case today

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court will hear 2008 Malegaon blast case here, on Nov 2018 that killed six and injured over 100 in the incident.

The main accused of the case Lt. Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit, was granted bail on August 2017, after he was prosecuted for terror charges under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), and spent nine years in jail.

ALSO READ: Prez Kovind, PM Modi greet nation on Milad-un-Nabi

The apex court, while granting bail to Purohit on 21 August, 2017 had also said that the issue of grant of prosecution sanction could be raised at the time of framing of charges.

The Malegaon is a town about 200 km from Mumbai in north Maharashtra, where a bomb blast went off near a mosque. The incident took place on September 29, 2008, where a motorbike LML Freedom was used to conceal explosives. In the initial investigation led by Maharashtra ATS, Sadhvi Pragya, Lt Colonel Shrikant Purohit, retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay were arrested in connection with the case.

Accused Lieutenant Prasad Shrikant Purohit moved to High Court against apex court verdict. He challenged SC's decision in the HC to dismiss the petition against the sanction to prosecute him under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), which was refused by HC on October 30, 2018. After, this Purohit approached Supreme Court.

ALSO READ: India remembers C V Raman on his death anniversary

However, the trial court had rejected Purohit's plea on sanction and had framed charges against him.

His plea also claimed that the charges were framed against him and others by the special court which had commenced the trial without dealing with his plea on sanction.

Earlier, a special court had, on 30 October, framed terror charges against Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and five other accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, setting the stage for their trial which commenced on 2 November.

Purohit is also accused of setting up an organisation solely to 'spread terrorism' named Abhinav Bharat. The special court had framed charges against all the seven accused under relevant sections of the stringent UAPA and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The accused were charged under sections 16 (committing terrorist act) and 18 (conspiring to commit terrorist act) of the UAPA.

If convicted under these sections, the maximum punishment can be life imprisonment or death.

The apex court had granted bail to Purohit on the grounds of contradictions found in the charge sheets filed by different investigating agencies on August 21, 2017.

ALSO READ: Himachal Pradesh to recruit over 2200 teachers in Elementary Education Department