Malegaon blast case: Two more quizzed

The special court set up to hear the 2008 Malegaon blast case on Monday recorded statements of two more accused – Ramesh Upadhyay and Sudhakar Chaturvedi.

On Friday, the court had recorded statements of Pragya Singh Thakur, Dayanand Pandey alias Sudhakar Dwivedi and Sameer Kulkarni.

Since Upadhyay and Chaturvedi were not present that day, they were questioned by the court on Monday.

The court on Friday asked those on the stand what they had to say about witnesses’ claims that there was a blast near Bhiku Chowk in Malegaon at 9.30pm on September 29, 2008. Similar to the responses given by Thakur and Pandey, Upadhyay and Chaturvedi denied having any knowledge of the blast. There may have been a blast if witnesses have claimed so, the accused said.

Meanwhile, the prosecution examined two more witnesses in the case – the constable from the local police station who registered the case and the photographer who video recorded the crime scene after the blast. The video was played in court.

Also read | Malegaon case: Pragya Thakur exempted from court for a day

The court on Friday had decided to take the statements of the accused in the middle of the trial. The accused’s statements are generally recorded after the court completes taking testimonies of the witnesses.

As per the process, the accused are asked to give explanation on the evidence produced by the prosecution against them.