Special NIA court rejects bail plea of 4 accused in 2006 Malegaon blasts case

On 6 June, the special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) rejected the bail plea of four accused - Manohar Narwaria, Rajendra Chaudhary, Dhan Singh and Lokesh Sharma - in the 2006 Malegaon blast case.

The accused, who are reportedly linked to Hindutva groups, had applied for their bail in February this year.

According to the media reports, the chargesheet against them has been filed on the basis of the statements of Swami Aseemanand - the prime accused in the Ajmer Sharif dargah blasts and the Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad.

The 2006 Malegaon case comprised two sets of accused.

The case was handed over to the NIA in 2011 after Swami Aseemanand in his statement told the magistrate in 2010 that RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi and his men were the masterminds in the 2006 Malegaon blasts.

In April this year, the court discharged nine Muslim men, who had been chargesheeted by the ATS and the CBI.

--With ANI inputs