Claiming that the three prime accused in the Malegaon blast case are still at large, the prosecution on Monday sought a non -bailable warrant against them.Special public prosecutor Rohini Salian while divulging the names of two of the accused, Kalsangra and Dange, before the court, said the third name was kept secret as its revelation could mar the investigation. “Ramji Kalsangra and Suresh Dange have been on the run since the blast. It is essential to have a non-bailable warrant issued at the earliest,” Salian told the court. Ramji is believed to be the bomber who placed the explosive-laden bike at Malegaon’s Bhiku Chowk area on September 29, where six people died in the ensuing explosion. One of the first pieces of evidence to emerge against Ramji was a witness statement recorded under Section 164 where the witness had heard Ramji, a mobile store owner, discuss the Malegaon blast conspiracy with Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. The probe revealed that the above-mentioned bike had been in the possession of Ramji, a relative of Shivnarayan Kalsangra, in the few months before the blast. The probe strengthened after the ATS team raided the homes and offices of the accused and found two electric timers from electric shop owner Shivnarayan Kalsangra’s Indore residence. Further interrogation of Shyamlal Sahu revealed that Ramji had used many SIM cards and had the conversation with Sadhvi Pragya through one of those. According to the investigators, Dange, a native of Indore, is also suspected to be a bomber in the September 29 blast and is a close associate of Ramji. Meanwhile, a holiday Bench of special MCOCA court granted the transit remand of Sameer Kulkarni, one of the founder members of right-wing group Abhinav Bharat, to the MP police. Kulkarni’s custody was sought in a church vandalisation case in Jabalpur where Kulkarni had set the church on fire in September. His judicial custody has been extented till January 6. Meanwhile, the remaining ten accused, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, were also remanded to judicial custody till January 6. The bail pleas of Purohit and Ajay Rahirkar, the treasurer of Abhinav Bharat, will also be heard on the same day. On the police custody of another accused Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Judge R G Avachat directed the prosecution to seek it on January 6 as the matter was heard before a holiday court. Chaturvedi, allegedly a member of Abhinav Bharat, was operating the bank account for the organisation. His custody is being sought once again on the grounds that his multiple bank accounts need to be scrutinised.
