Court drops MCOCA against Sadhvi Pragya,Purohit

Special court dropped provisions of the stringent MCOCA against Sadhvi Pragya and LT Col Purohit in Malagaon blast case.

In a reprieve to sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur,Lt Col S P Purohit and nine other accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case,a special court today dropped provisions of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) invoked against them saying none are part of an organised crime syndicate.

Designated Judge Y D Shinde,presiding over the special MCOCA court here,however,rejected the bail plea of Purohit.

The court dropped the charges in this case while hearing the bail plea of Purohit who had challenged invoking this stringent act. Shinde observed that none of the accused are part of the organised crime syndicate.

He also observed that none of the accused had more than one charge sheet filed against him or her — a prerequisite for invoking provisions of MCOCA.

As provisions of IPC would apply now,the case would be heard by a sessions court in Nashik.

The special court,however,stayed its order lifting MCOCA provisions for a period of four weeks to enable the state to file an appeal in Bombay High Court.

Additional DGP K P Raghuvanshi said the government would file an appeal in the high court after getting certified copy of the order.

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Seven people were killed in a bomb blast on September 29,2008 at Malegaon,a textile town near Nashik.

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