Malegaon blast case: Lt. Col. Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya among 7 charged with murder, abetment and conspiracy

Ten years after an RDX (a type of high explosive) planted on a motorcycle at Malegaon in Nashik district of Maharashtra killed six people, a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Tuesday framed charges against seven accused.

Special judge Vinod Padalkar charged Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Sameer Kulkarni, Major (retd.) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ajay Rahilkar and Sudhakar Chaturvedi with murder, abetment and conspiracy for the blast.

The court read out the order in open court in the presence of all accused in Hindi. It said, “The Abhinav Bharat organisation was formed with the common object to spread terrorism and a bomb with RDX was planted on a motorcycle in Malegaon that killed six, injured 101 people and destroyed property.”

The accused have been charged under sections in the Indian Penal Code, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and the Indian Explosives Substance Act. They have pleaded not guilty. Lt. Col Purohit told the court, “My integrity was never questioned and I never expected it to happen this way.”

The court is likely to begin recording of evidence and commence the trial on November 1, 2018.