MUMBAI: The Special Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) Judge Y.D. Shinde, dismissing the arguments of the defense counsels of the eleven accused in the Malegaon blasts case, upheld the arguments of the government prosecutor slapping the accused with charges under MCOCA.
The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra police yesterday submitted a 4,200-page charge sheet against 11 accused in the Malegaon case in the Mumbai court.
On Tuesday, the ATS had filed the charge sheet against the 11 accused — Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Thakur, Lt. Col. Prasad S. Purohit, Rakesh Dhawade, Swami Amritanand alias Dayanand Pandey, former armyman Ramesh Upadhyay, Jagdish Mhatre, Ajay Rahirkar, Shyamlal Bhanwarlal Sahu, Shivnarain Singh Kalsangra, Samir Kulkarni and Sudhakar Chaturvedi.
The charge sheet was filed in the shadow of the death of former ATS chief Hemant Karkare who had been directing the investigations into the case which came up with sensational results.
Just five days after the 11 accused were slapped with MCOCA charges on Nov. 21 last year, Karkare was killed during the Mumbai terror attacks.
However, the defense counsels argued that applications of MCOCA on the accused were incorrect and the charges false, while government prosecutor Rohini Salian argued that the charges MCOCA against the accused were applied correctly and the said that the court can take cognizance of the charge sheet and proceed.
The judge in his order delivered yesterday said that he concurred with the prosecution and that the accused will be tried under the stringent MCOCA laws.
Shinde held that the evidence submitted by the Mumbai police were sufficient to invoke the provisions of MCOCA against the accused.
Following the order of the special judge, the defense counsels said that they would appeal against the decision of Shinde and challenge it in the Bombay High Court.
The concurrence of the judge means that the confessions made by the accused before a police officer will be admissible in the court and investigations can continue for more time in the case registered against the eleven accused, who will now have to remain in police custody for a longer time and also would find it difficult to obtain bail.
