The Bombay High Court on Wednesday adjourned hearing till November 18 in the application filed by BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt Colonel Shrikant Purohit and others seeking discharge from the 2008 Malegaon blast case.
The accused have also challenged the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) sanction for prosecution. According to them, the necessary permission for the sanction was not taken from the competent authority and hence it stands null and void.
Along with these two applications, the High Court will also to hear the issue of Secondary Evidence validity on November 18.
Six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a town in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008.
Besides Thakur, Purohit, retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Samir Kulkarni are also accused in the case.
They have been charged under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), the Explosive Substances Act and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).