NIA charge-sheet in Malegaon 2008 bombings likely this month

The national Investigation Agency (NIA) is likely to file its charge-sheet in the 2008 Malegaon bombings by alleged Hindu terror outfit Abhinav Bharat this month, the anti-terror probe agency said on Monday. It comes days after the Supreme Court asked it to complete the investigation at the earliest.

NIA Director General Sharad Kumar said the probe into the case was complete and the charge-sheet would be filed before the competent court in Mumbai “most probably within this month”.

He denied deliberate delay in submitting the charge-sheet and said several accused arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terror Squad had filed cases in the Bombay high court and Supreme Court. “Once the courts cleared all litigations, we expedited our process of filing the charge-sheet in the case,” Kumar said.

The NIA has listed 14 persons, including Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, as accused in the blasts in Malegaon town in Nashik on September 29, 2008, in which seven people were killed when two bombs planted on a motorcycle exploded.