NIA Likely to File Chargesheet in Malegaon Blasts Case This Month

The NIA is likely to file a chargesheet in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case this month.

Seven people were killed in two blasts in Malegaon, in 2008. (Photo: Reuters)

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is likely to file its chargesheet in the 2008 Malegaon bombings by alleged Hindu terror outfit Abhinav Bharat this month, the anti-terror probe agency said today. The statement has come days after the Supreme Court asked the agency to complete the investigation at the earliest.

The probe in the case has been completed and a charge sheet would be filed before the competent court in Mumbai “most probably within this month”.

General Sharad Kumar, Director, NIA

Kumar denied there was any deliberate delay in submitting the chargesheet and said several accused arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad had filed cases in the Bombay High Court and Supreme Court. General Kumar further informed:

Once the courts cleared all the litigations, we expedited our process of filing the chargesheet.

A policeman walks past torn slippers of blast victims inside a mosque in Malegaon, a day after 32 people were killed and dozens wounded. (Photo: Reuters)

The NIA has listed 14 people, including Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, as accused. The probe was initially conducted by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) and later handed over to the NIA. Other than Purohit, the others arrested in the case are: Pragya Singh Thakur, Shivnarayan Kalsangra, Shyam Sahu, Ramesh Upadhya, Sameer Kulkarni, Ajay, Rakesh Dhawade, Jagdish Mhatre, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Pravin Takalki.

Ramchandra Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange have been declared absconders in the case. They are also accused in the 2007 Samjhauta Express blast, which killed 68 people.

Malegaon 2008 blasts changed the course of many probes, including the Samjhauta Express blast one. It was for the first time that the role of a Hindu right wing group had come to light in a terror attack.

Samjhauta Express at the Indo-Pak border. (Photo: IANS)

The case was investigated initially by Joint Commissioner of Mumbai’s ATS Hemant Karkare, who was killed in action during the 26/11 Mumbai attack. Before the NIA took over the case in 2011, Maharashtra ATS had booked 16 people, but filed chargesheets against only 14 on 20 January 2009 and 21 April 2011 in a Mumbai court.

Also Read: DeQoded: The 2008 Malegaon Blasts Case