Rejecting Lt Col Shrikant Purohit’s plea to defer the framing of charges, the NIA court on Tuesday (October 30) charged all the seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case for terror conspiracy.

Purohit had sought adjournment on framing of charges against him in connection with the case. His lawyer had filed an application stating that he will be appealing in the Supreme Court against the Bombay High Court ruling which had refused to stay framing of charges by the trial court. The NIA court rejected his plea of deferring the framing of charges and said that the charges are ready. The court has fixed the next date for hearing for Nov 2.

The bench had yesterday (October 29) refused Purohit’s request for staying the proceedings in the trial court, noting that in the past, both the Supreme Court and the Bombay HC had passed orders directing the trial court to expedite the hearing in the case. Purohit had last week moved the Court against the order of the special NIA court that had rejected his challenge to Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) sanctions. The trial court, the special NIA court in the present case, is scheduled to begin framing of charges against Purohit and other accused Tuesday.

Six persons were killed and over a 100 injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a power loom town located about 200 km from here in North Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008. Besides Purohit, the other accused case include Pragya Singh Thakur, Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni and Ajay Rahirkar.

—India Legal Bureau