Mumbai, December 3: A special NIA court in Mumbai on Thursday directed all accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case to be present before the court on December 19 when the case will be taken up for hearing next.

Out of the seven accused in the matter, three accused including LT Col Purohit, Sameer Kulkarni and Ajay Rahirkar were present before the court today. The court took note of their presence and directed all accused to be present in-person before the court.

Besides these three, BJP MP Pragya Thakur, retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Dwivedi and Sudhakar Chaturvedi are also accused in the case. They have been charged under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the Explosive Substances Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Malegaon Blast Case: MP Pragya Singh Thakur Fails to Appear in Court.

The charges include Sections 16 (committing terrorist act) and 18 (conspiring to commit terrorist act) of the UAPA and Sections 120(b) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 153(a) (promoting enmity between two religious groups) of the IPC.

Six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a town in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008.