Trial in Malegaon 2006 blasts,Aurangabad arms haul case also to begin With the Supreme Court vacating the stay on trial in the 7/11 serial train blasts case by rejecting a petition challenging the applicability of the stringent Maharashtra Control of Ogranised Crime Act (MCOCA),trial is set to resume on May 21 before the special judge. A Division Bench of Justice RV Raveendran and Justice Deepak Verma had dismissed the petition filed by an accused. The trial was stayed on February 29,2008,after the apex court admitted the petition challenging that the phrase promoting insurgency in the definition of organised crime in section 2(1) (e) of MCOCA was unconstitutional. Special Public Prosecutor Raja Thackeray said,The next date of the trial is May 21,when the accused would be brought to court. Until now,the remand was being extended through video conferencing from Arthur Road prison. Thackeray said,I would be requesting the court to issue summons to witnesses. So far only one witness,a police sub-inspector of Borivali Railway police station,has deposed in the case before it was stayed. The prosecution has listed around 400 witnesses in the case. The apex courts decision on Friday also vacated the stay on two other cases,the Malegaon blasts of 2006,and the Aurangabad arms haul case. Trial in these cases would start at the special court. All the 13-arrested accused in the train blasts case are in Arthur Road jail. According to the ATS,which filed an over 10,000-page chargesheet,charges under 32 different heads,ranging from conspiracy to waging war against the nation,had been framed against them. The chargesheet named 30 wanted accused and alleged that LeT planned and conspired the blasts and executed them through members of the banned SIMI. LeT operative Azam Cheema allegedly sent the RDX used in the blasts from Pakistan.
