Zeenews Bureau
Mumbai, Nov 20: Rejecting all charges of ‘political pressure’, the Maharashtra Anti Terror Squad (ATS) on Thursday said that all Malegaon blast accused will be charged under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
"All the accused had earlier been booked under
sections of the IPC, Indian Explosives Act and Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act," Joint Commissioner of Police
(ATS) Hemant Karkare said.
The ATS has arrested 10 people so far and has also
taken custody of another accused Sudhakar Chaturvedi, who was
nabbed by the city police with a fake Army identity card in
his possession, Karkare said.
The accused include self-styled Swami Dayanand Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya, Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit. Purohit was on Wednesday remanded to two day police custody. Another accused, Sameer Kulkarni sent to a day’s police custody.
Eight of the accused are currently in judicial custody
but further police custody can be sought to interrogate them
under MCOCA, ATS officials said.
The ATS has invoked Section 3 of the MCOCA pertaining
to organised crime against the accused which includes a
sadhvi, a self-styled religious leader and a serving Army
officer.
The Sections applied are 3(1)(i), which provides for a
death penalty if the crime had led to death of an individual,
3(2) for life imprisonment for conspirators or abettors and
3(4) which provides for a minimum sentence of five years for
anyone who is a member of the organised crime syndicate.
Karkare rejected all speculation of political or media pressure influencing the ATS investigation. He also said that Col Purohit had told the court that the ATS had not ill-treated him.
“Charges of Purohit’s ill-treatment are wrong. He has told the court the same,” Karkare emphasised.
MCOCA gives investigating agency plenty of room to continue their probe as the accused will not be able to seek bail for 6 months. It can also seek extension to the time required for filing a chargesheet.
The ATS chief said gathering evidence was difficult and that every aspect is being thoroughly looked into.
Over the information about Army RDX being used in Samjhauta blast, Karkare said it was the statement of a witness that needed to be verified. He also informed they were hoping to retrieve some concrete link between Purohit and Dayanand from the former’s laptop.
As far as demand of handing over the investigation to CID, the ATS chief expressed confidence that his team will continue the probe.
First Published: Thursday, November 20, 2008, 00:00