Malegaon Blast: Pandey Sent to Police custody till Dec 1

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Mumbai, : 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.





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