TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Curtains will finally come down on the three-year-old trial in the sensational 2009 Margao bomb blast case with Special Judge P V Savaikar expected to pronounce the court verdict on Friday.
The fate of the accused persons, who have been charged with offences under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Explosive Substance Act, besides offences for waging war against the country, will be known by Friday noon.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had named a total of 11 persons as accused in the sensational case, including deceased Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik, who died in the blast behind Grace Church on the eve of Diwali on October 16, 2009. While accused Vinay Talekar, Vinayak Patil, Dhananjay Asthekar, Dilip Mangonkar, Prashant Ashthekar and Prashant Juvekar were arrested by the NIA and are facing trial, the remaining three accused Jai Prakash alias Anna, Rudra Patil and Sarang Kulkarni are absconding.
Though the NIA had cited a total of 260 witnesses in support of its case, the prosecution has examined around 122 witnesses. When contacted, Special Public Prosecutor, S B Faria, said the trial in the case is complete and the special judge is likely to give the verdict on Friday noon.
The chargesheet filed by the NIA had charged the accused for hatching a criminal conspiracy between June-October 2009 to plant IEDs at five different places in Goa on the day of Narkasur effigy burning on October 16. The investigating agency has charged accused Malgonda Patil, Dhananjay Ashthekar and Jai Prakash for allegedly procuring explosive materials like gelatin sticks and detonators, besides accessories like printed circuit boards, transistors, batteries, wires for making the improvised explosive devices from different sources. “The IEDs were allegedly assembled at the residence of Laxmikant Naik, brother of deceased Yogesh at Talaulim-Ponda. Test blasts were conducted behind the residence of Laxmikanth Naik on August 26, 27 and 28 in 2009.
NIA had named a total of 11 persons as accused in the sensational case, including deceased Malgonda Patil and Yogesh Naik, who died in the blast
