Malegaon blast case: Brain mapping on accused to start in Gujarat

Brain mapping and polygraph tests on the nine accused in the 2006 Malegaon blast case, will be conducted in Gujarat, sources said.

The accused have been taken to Gujarat after the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court approved the schedule submitted by the National Investigating Agency (NIA).

Sources said that the accused have been taken to the Directorate of Forensic Sciences in Gandhinagar on August 23 in different batches to facilitate conducting the tests. They added that it would take a month's time to complete the tests.

Earlier, the NIA had moved an application in the special MCOCA court for conducting these tests after nine accused in the case gave their consent to conduct tests on them.

The NIA had said that it sought tests, as some new facts had come into light and also to check it with the accused by conducting the tests.

The Malegaon 2006 blasts took place near the Hamidia Mosque in the Bada Kabristanat around 1:15 pm on Friday on September 8, 2006, after the prayers of the Shab-e-Barat. It killed 37 people and injured more than 100.

The police arrested nine accused - Salman Farsi, Shabir Ahmed, Noorulhuda Doha, Rais Ahmed, Mohammed Ali, Asif Khan, Javed Sheikh, Dr Faroogue Ansari and Abrar Ahmed-for their alleged involvement in the blast.

In December 2006 the case was handed over to the CBI and later NIA took over the case.