Spl NIA judge VS Padalkar presiding over the Malegaon blast trial on Monday examined a crucial piece of evidence in the 2008 blast that killed six and injured over 100. The motorcycles and bicycles recovered from the blast site at Malegaon.



The evidence, ie, two motorcycles and five bicycles, were brought in before the Special NIA Court in a tempo. According to the prosecution, one of the motorcycles, a gold colour LML Freedom is registered in BJP MP Pragya Thakur's name.

One of the witnesses in the case identified Sadhvi's bike and said he saw the same bike on the day of the blast at the site of the blast in Malegaon. An impoverished explosive device (IED), which triggered the blast, was mounted on the said LML Freedom bike.

The Anti-Terrorist Squad led by the martyr of 26/11, late Hemant Karakare, had concluded that Pragya's motorcycle was used for the blast by her associate Ramji Kalsangra, still absconding. Whereas the National Investigation Agency, dropped all charges against Pragya under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in their charge sheet after taking over the investigation in 2011 from Maharashtra ATS. NIA has concluded that Ramji was in possession of the said bike for two years and Sadhvi was only the registered owner.

Previously, Pragya denied knowledge of the Malegaon blast altogether when she was questioned by Judge Padalkar about the blast in open court.

Special NIA Court framed charges against Pragya and the other accused in the case. They have been charged with murder, attempt to murder, voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means, promoting enmity between different groups and punishment of criminal conspiracy. Under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, the accused have been charged under Section 3, Section 4, Section 5 and Section 6 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908 and relevant sections of the Arms Act.

Lt Col Prasad Purohit, Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni are the other accused in this case.