Malegaon blast case: judicial custody of 8 extended till Nov 29

Nashik, Nov 17 (UNI) The District and Sessions Court here today extended the judicial custody of eight accused, allegedly involved in the September 29 bomb blast at Malegaon, till November 29.

Justice H K Ganatra (fourth joint civil judge, senior division) extended the judicial custody of Pragya Singh Thakur (accused number one), Shivnarayan Kalsangra (number two), Shyam Sahu (number three), Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay (number four), Sameer Kulkarni (number five), Ajay Rahirkar (number six), Rakesh Dhawade (number seven) and Jagdish Mhatre (number eight). They were produced before the court after their judical custody expired today.

Pragya's lawyer Ganesh Sovani moved an application regarding ill treatment given to the Sadhvi in the ATS custody earlier. The Sadhvi, through her lawyer, prayed to the court that she did not understand the proceedings in English. So, the court directed the defence to file a Hindi version of the application on record as well as granted permission to furnish the details of that application in Hindi.

Meanwhile, Gujarat Police moved an application seeking custody of all accused in connection with the September 29 bomb blast at Modasa. Hearing on this matter will be held later today.

Swami Amritanand, through his lawyer Kishore Vig, moved an application seeking permission from the court for the presence of a lawyer or the Swami's close relative during his custodial interrogation, as he complained of physical torture by the ATS and life threat to him.

Accused number four Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay also complained to the court that his relatives were barred from meeting him. He told the court that he had sent three postcards to his friends demanding legal help. However, they were not delivered, he pointed out.

He complained that he was not provided with articles like soap.

During the course of hearing, various Hindutva organisations such as the Shiv Sena, BJP, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajarang Dal and Hindu Ekta Andolan held demonstrations outside the court premises.

The protestors shouted slogans in support of the accused.

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