Sudhakar Chaturvedi, one of the accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, has requested the Special NIA court to cancel his bail and take him into custody again. He claims that he does not have accommodation in Mumbai to attend the day-to-day hearings in the trial. Chaturvedi’s application states that as he is from North India, it is difficult for him to find accommodation in Mumbai for the expected few months of statement recording in the trial.
Additionally, Chaturvedi mentions in his application that he filed a petition in the Bombay High Court against ATS officers who allegedly committed atrocities against him during the case investigation. However, the application has been pending in the High Court since 2013. He accuses the Maharashtra Home Department of not complying with the High Court order for over 10 years.
Chaturvedi’s lawyer agrees that there is no provision to take an accused into custody for this reason. The court has kept the matter pending for Friday, and an order is likely to be passed on the application on the coming Monday.
The Malegaon blast took place on September 29, 2008, resulting in the death of six people and injuring over 100 others. Currently, all seven accused in the case are out on bail. The Maharashtra ATS made its first arrest in connection to the case on October 23, 2008, by apprehending BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. Later, other accused including Sameer Kulkarni, retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ajay Rahilkar, and Sudhakar Chaturvedi were also caught.
The ATS filed a charge sheet in the case on January 20, 2009, after completing its investigation. In April 2011, the central government transferred the investigation to the NIA. Recently, the NIA informed the Special NIA Court that it has completed recording evidence and doesn’t need to call any more witnesses for a statement from their side. The NIA recorded 323 witnesses in this trial, with 37 witnesses turning hostile.
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