MARGAO, DEC 6
The National Investigation Agency has said that accused Prashant Juvekar had actively participated in the preparation and conduct of the test blasts at the hillock at Ponda, which finally culminated into the commission of a terrorist act on October 16 by way of explosion and planting of improvised explosive devices in Margao and Sancoale.
The NIA further said that accused Prashant Ashtekar in connivance with another accused removed the hard disk of the computer kept in the rented room of his accused brother Dhananjay Ashtekar at Kolhapur, Maharashtra and destroyed the same.
In the supplementary charge sheet filed in the Margao bomb blast case, the NIA said Ashtekar had destroyed the hard disk with the intention that the same may not be seized by the police as they were aware that Dhananjay Ashtekar had modified the circuit diagrams downloaded from the Internet for the purpose of IEDs used in the blast.
Investigations into the blast case further revealed that Juvekar, who was arrested on August 6, has revealed that he had actively particpated in the preparation and conduct of the test blasts along with Malgonda Patil, Yogesh Naik, Sarang Kulkarni, Dhananjay Ashtekar, Jaiprakash Anna, Vinay Talekar and Dilip Mangaonkar.
Copies of the supplementary chargesheet were handed over to the accused in the court today. Arguments before framing of charge will be heard in the Sessions Court on December 10. The bail application filed by Juvekar on grounds that he has been in custody for more than 90 days without extension sought by the NIA will also come up for hearing on December 10.
