Mumbai, Oct 31 (IANS) The National Investigation Agency Monday sought time, till Friday (Nov 4), from a special court here to file its report and additional charge-sheet against nine accused in the 2006 Malegaon bomb blast case, a lawyer said.
The NIA, which is currently probing the case, informed the designated Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court that it would also file its arguments on the bail petition of the accused that day, said A. Tamboli, the lawyer for eight of the accused.
‘Following this, Special Judge Y.D. Shinde adjourned the hearing in the case to Nov 19,’ Tamboli told IANS, soon after the hearing this evening.
All the nine accused were produced before the court under heavy security in the wake of a confessional statement of another accused in the same case, Swami Aseemanand.
Presently in custody, Aseemanand had earlier confessed his own involvement and that of a Hindu right-wing group in the Sep 8, 2006 blast near Hamidia Mosque in Malegaon, killing 37 people, shortly after the Friday afternoon prayers.
‘We have contended that from Swami Aseemanand’s confessional statement, it is clear that those responsible for the 2006 Malegaon blasts, are persons far removed from the current accused,’ said lawyer Khalid Azmi, who is also representing some of the accused.
Azmi pleaded on behalf of the accused that they have been languishing in jail for over four years and ‘there is no direct evidence of their involvement in the said offence and it was only based on the forcibly-taken confession statement’.
The accused are: Abrar Ahmed, who is represented by his brother, lawyer Jalil Ansari, Salman Farsi, Shabbir Ahmed, Nurulhooda Doha, Rais Ahmed, Mohammed Ali, Asif Khan, Javed Sheikh and Farooque Ansari, represented by Tamboli and Azmi.
