Malegaon blasts: CBI submits Aseemanand's statement to court

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Thursday submitted a certified copy of the confessional statement of 2006 Malegaon blast accused Swami Aseemanand before a Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Thursday submitted a certified copy of the confessional statement of 2006 Malegaon blast accused Swami Aseemanand before a Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court.

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While submitting the copy to Special MCOCA Judge Y.D. Shinde, CBI prosecutor A. Chimalkar said that it had not been made available to either the accused or the defence as investigations into the case were still in progress.

Special Judge Shinde has now placed the matter for hearing March 7.

Earlier this month, the special court had directed the CBI to submit a certified copy of Aseemanand’s confessional statement made last month.

Malegaon, in Nashik district, was rocked by at least two blasts, one near the Mecca Mosque on the eve of he Shab-e-Barat prayers and another in Mushawarat Square nearby.

A total of 32 people were killed and over 300 injured in the blast, including many children.

Aseemanand, a radical Hindu activist, is also allegedly implicated in the 2007 blast in the Dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer that killed three people, the 2007 Mecca Masjid bombing in Hyderabad in which 14 people were killed as well as the 2007 Samjhauta Express terror attack, also in 2007, that claimed 68 lives.