Mumbai, Nov 26: A special MCOCA court here on Wednesday
remanded Malegaon blast accused Dayanand Pandey to police
custody till December 1 after the prosecution said they
wanted to interrogate him regarding the material found in his
laptop about meetings between him and other accused in the
case.
Pandey, who was arrested on November 14 from Uttar
Pradesh, was produced before the MCOCA court today.
The prosecution, while seeking Pandey's custody, told
the court that they had recovered from his laptop one video
and two audio clips of meetings between him and other arrested
accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit.
Special Public Prosecutor Rohini Salian submitted a
transcript of the audio clips and said "in the video clip
Pandey, Sadhvi, Purohit and other persons, whose name cannot
be disclosed, are seen talking about RDX, chemicals, hand
grenades and training."
Salian said the meetings seem to have been taken in a
temple and it also talks about propagating the Hindu cause
taken up by right wing group Abhinav Bharat.
Pandey, however, told the court from the witness box
that he had attended three meetings only as a 'dharmacharya'
but was not involved in the Malegaon blast conspiracy.
"I have been in contact with these persons only as a
religious leader and have not committed any crime," Pandey
with folded hands told the court.
Pandey's advocate Kishore Vig opposed the police
custody saying the prosecution does not require this for
verification of the audio and video clips.
"The ATS is beating about the bush and has to first
prove the authenticity of the audio and video clips," he argued.
After the court remanded him to police custody, Pandey
requested the court to allow him to wear his religious
clothes, which the court permitted.
The ATS has arrested 11 persons so far for their
alleged involvement in the September 29 blast at Malegaon
which killed six and injured over 80.
Two more accused charge ATS of torture
Two accused in Malegaon blast
case today filed a petition in a local court, alleging the
Maharashtra ATS of physically and mentally torturing them to
record false statements.
Dharmendra Baragi and Dilip Nahar, who were picked up
last month by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad from the
city but were later freed, have filed the petition in the
court of Judicial Magistrate First Class R K Batham against 11
Maharashtra ATS personel, including its Chief Hemant Karkare.
Nahar after filing the petition told reporters that
he was lifted from his home and put in a jeep in which he was
badly beaten on October 16 by the ATS.
Thereafter, he said he along with others was taken to
Mumbai where he was tortured physically and mentally to
record false statements.
Bargi said he was lifted by the ATS on October 14 from
here and was beaten and tortured. The ATS had hurt his
religious feeling and threatened him to record statement in
the court or he will be eliminated.
Bureau Report
First Published: Wednesday, November 26, 2008, 00:00