Mumbai: A Special NIA Court in Mumbai has directed the Bharatiya Janata Party's Bhopal candidate Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and other accused to present before it once a week.
The court has expressed its displeasure over the inability of people to attend the hearing.
Judge Vinod Padalkar also directed that exemption sought without cogent reasons will be rejected.
Lieutenant Colonel Pasad Purohit, Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni are other accused in the case. All accused are out on bail.
Nisar Ahmed Sayyed Bilal, the father of Sayyed Azhar who died in the 2008 Malegaon blasts had moved a plea before the court asking for Anti Terrorist Squad's assistance to the National Investigation Agency. The court has turned down this plea.
Bilal had also asked the court to bar Sadhvi Pragya from contesting the election. NIA had reposnded to the court saying that it has no jurisdiction over matters before the Election Commission.
On September 29, 2008, six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon.
The next hearing is scheduled on May 20.
