Malegaon blast case: Bombay HC brings backs MCOCA charge against Sadhvi Pragya

Mumbai, July 19 (ANI): The Bombay High Court on Monday restored the application of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in the 2008 Malegaon blast case against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and others.

The court ruling came following a state government appeal against the sessions court decision to set aside MCOCA against the Sadhvi and others.

The sessions court had dropped the charges in the case in August 2009 while hearing the bail plea of Lieutenant Colonel S P Purohit, one of the accused.

Designated Judge Y D Shinde had observed that none of the accused were part of the organised crime syndicate.

The Maharashtra government had appealed against this order.

Beside, Pragya and Purohit, the other accused are Rakesh Dhawde, Ramesh Upadhyay, Shyamlal Sahu, Shivnarain Kalsangra, Dayanand Pandey, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Jagdish Mhatre, Sameer Kulkarni and Ajay Rahirkar.

The blast in Malegoan on September 29, 2008, claimed lives of eight persons and injured seventy others. (ANI)