TEAM HERALD
bureau@herald-goa.com
PORVORIM/MARGAO: The Mapusa NIA Court on Tuesday acquitted all the six accused in the October 2009 Margao bomb blast case. The verdict on the three-year-old trial in the sensational 2009 Margao bomb blast case was pronounced by Special judge PV Sawaiker on Tuesday afternoon. All the six accused ~ Vinay Talekar, Vinayak Patil, Dhananjay Ashtekar, Dilip Mangonkar, Prashant Ashtekar and Prashant Juvekar ~ were acquitted from all the charges under Unlawful Activities Act and Explosives Substance Act.
However, the Court has directed the six accused to furnish a personal bond of Rs 15,000 and surety of like amount that they will appear in the higher court in case NIA decides to go in for appeal.
Special Public Prosecutor Advocate SB Faria and lawyers of the accused Amey Prabhu Dessai and Sanjeev Punaliker had arrived at the Mapusa court in the morning, while the accused were brought by a special van.
It may be recalled that 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 Vinay Talekar, Vinayak Patil, Dhananjay Ashtekar, Dilip Mangonkar, Prashant Asthekar and Prashant Juvekar were arrested by the NIA, the other three accused Jai Prakash, Rudra Patil and Sarang Kulkarni are absconding.
Though the NIA had cited a total of 260 witnesses in support of its case, the prosecution examined about 122 witnesses. 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 competition on October 16.
The investigating agency has charged accused Malgonda Patil, Dhananjay Ashtekar 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 Devises from different sources.
“The Improvised Explosives Devises (IEDs) were allegedly assembled at the residence of Laxmikant Naik, brother of deceased Yogesh at Talaulim-Ponda and allegedly conducted test blasts at the hillock behind the residence of Laxmikant Naik on August 26, 27 and 28 in 2009. A second test blast was conducted at Jath Sangli, Maharashtra, during the last week of September 2009,” the NIA said in its chargesheet.
Speaking to media, Special Public Prosecutor SB Faria stated that he will study the order of acquittal given by the Court and then advise the authorities accordingly.
