Victims urge court to convict accused and give maximum punishment

Victims of the 2008 Malegaon blast on Monday urged the court to convict the seven accused facing trial and give them maximum punishment.

Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) judge AK Lahoti is hearing the final arguments against Prasad Purohit, BJP leader Pragya Thakur, Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni.

While the prosecution has completed its arguments and presented evidence, Thakur's defense lawyers also completed their arguments on Monday. Lawyers for the victims – who have been allowed to intervene – said in written submissions that “this has proved the case beyond any doubt that the present accused and the absconding accused are solely responsible for the horrific act of bomb blast and death. ” Six people and 101 people have suffered serious injuries”.

This comes at a time when Thakur's lawyers had claimed that the blast could have been carried out by the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). It was argued that SIMI's office was located near the blast site where bombs could be made, and when the accidental blast occurred they could transport the explosives using a two-wheeler. However, investigators claimed that the motorcycle belonged to Thakur.

Meanwhile, the victims pleaded that the accused should not be given the benefit of minor discrepancies in the testimony of witnesses, which may have arisen due to passage of time.