New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed Malegaon bomb blast accused Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit, Pragya Singh Thakur and others to approach the special court tring the case for bail.
An apex court bench of Justice F.M.I. Kalifulla and Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre said there was no material connecting Malegaon accused with Parbhani and Jalna bomb blast cases, but added that there was material connecting Rakesh Dattaray Dhawade with Parbhani and Jalna blast.
Holding that Dhawade’s activity and involvement in all the “three occurrences, namely, Parbhani, Jalna and Malegaon disclose nexus with the crime and also with the other accused” involved in the Malegaon crime, the court said: “In such circumstances, by virtue of Section 21 (4) of MCOCA he is not entitled for the grant of bail…”
In respect of other accused the court said: “There is no dispute that in respect a their involvement is with reference to the Malegaon bomb blast. Admittedly, they are not proceeded against for the offence relating to Parbhani and Jalna.”
Having said this, the court said: “But still at the present juncture, with the materials available on record as on date, we are not in a position to ascertain as to the involvement of the appellants either by way of their nexus with any accused who is a member of an ‘organised crime syndicate’ or such nexus with the offence of an ‘organised crime’ which pertains to Parbhani and Jalna.”
“We cannot also rule out the possibility of the evidence based on the investigation by the prosecuting agency to come out with reliable materials in support of such nexus to be shown with an accused or with the crime in respect of the earlier two cases, namely, Parbhani and Jalna,” the court said that thus it could not “straightway reach at a conclusion to the effect that MCOCA was not attracted and, therefore, they should be discharged.”
Directing the accused to approach the trial court for bail, the court said the same would be held expeditiously and decided in one months time.
“We also direct the presiding officer of the special court to dispose of the bail applications expeditiously, preferably within one month from the date of his/her assumption of Office as Special Judge,” the court said directing the expeditious hearing of the plea for bail by the accused.
The court order came as it examined the question whether accused in the case attracted the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (MCOCA).
Prasad Srikant Purohit and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi and others had challenged the invoking the MCOCA against them.
Noting that case relates to the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast and seven years have gone by since then, the court said: “It is imperative that the special court commence the trial at the earliest and conclude the same expeditiously.”
The court directed the prosecuting agency to ensure that the necessary evidence both oral and documentary as well as other form of evidence be placed before the special court so that it could commence the trial early and conclude the same expeditiously.
Noting that there was no judicial officer presiding the special court, the apex court in its order today asked the chief justice of Bombay High Court to pass appropriate orders “either for posting these cases before a learned judge by way of special order or appoint a presiding officer exclusively for deciding these cases in order to ensure speedy trial.”
Having said this, court directed its registry to transmit the records of the case to the special court.