Pandey to stay in custody, ATS has laptop 145;showing accused hatching plot146;

Special Public Prosecutor Rohini Salian said that the data recovered from the hard disc of the laptop showed that Pandey, Lt Col Prasad Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur hatched the Malegaon blast conspiracy at a religious place.

Pandey can reportedly be seen discussing the use of 8220;chemicals that will burst8221; and other explosive materials such as RDX, detonators, grenades and small and heavy weapons.

The mahant, Salian said, recorded all his meetings with the other accused as well as certain high-profile persons, whose names she did not mention, on his laptop with an aim to use it as propaganda.

8220;The Anti-Terror Squad ATS received the mirror image of the laptop hard disc on Tuesday from the Forensic Science Laboratories FSL. It wants Pandey8217;s custody to confront him with details obtained from it,8221; Salian told the court.

While defence lawyer Kishore Vig argued that 8220;the ATS should not be given Pandey8217;s custody only to verify the details of the data recovered from his laptop8221;, Special Judge Y D Shinde felt this was needed to verify Pandey8217;s role in the case.

Pandey, who did not make any complaints of torture, told the court he was innocent and used to interact with members of the Abhinav Bharat 8220;only because he was a mahant8221;.