Six people were killed in the 2008 Malegaon explosion (File)
New Delhi:
Sudhakar Chaturvedi, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon case, has requested the special NIA court to cancel his bail and remand him in custody as he has no accommodation in Mumbai to attend the daily hearings in the trial .
Mr Chaturvedi said in his petition before the court that he is unable to attend the recording of the statement on a daily basis as he does not live in Mumbai but is from North India and it is difficult to find accommodation in Mumbai for such a long period that the recording of CrPC 313 statements is expected to take at least a few months.
He has also mentioned in his plea that he has filed a petition in the Bombay High Court against ATS officers who allegedly committed atrocities against him during the investigation of the case, but the petition has been pending in the HC since 2013.
The Maharashtra Home Ministry has not complied with the Supreme Court order for over a decade, he alleged.
Sudhakar Chaturvedi’s lawyer also agreed that there is no provision to take an accused into custody for this reason.
The case was adjourned on Friday and the court will probably rule on this application next Monday.
On September 29, 2008, six people were killed and more than 100 others injured after an explosive device mounted on a motorcycle exploded in Nashik’s Malegaon town in Maharashtra.
All seven suspects in the case are currently out on bail.
On October 23, 2008, the Maharashtra ATS made its first arrest in connection with the case by arresting BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.
Later, other suspects including Sameer Kulkarni, retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ajay Rahilkar and Sudhakar Chaturvedi were also nabbed.
On January 20, 2009, the ATS filed a chargesheet in the case after completing its investigation. In April 2011, the central government transferred the investigation into the case to the NIA
Earlier on September 14, the NIA filed an application to inform the Special NIA Court that it has recorded the evidence and no longer needs to call witnesses for a statement on their part.
The NIA recorded 323 witnesses in this trial, besides which 37 witnesses turned hostile.
In April 2011, the central government transferred the investigation into the case to the NIA.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
