MCOCA court wants state reply to Pragya's torture

The special MCOCA court on Tuesday directed the state to file its reply to the allegations of physical torture levelled by sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt Col Purohit and others accused in the Malegaon blast case.

Sadhvi, Purohit and others had alleged in the court on Monday that they were physically and mentally tortured by the Anti-Terrorism Squad officials.

The ATS had sought the custody of sadhvi, Purohit and Ajay Rahirkar, a member of the right wing group Abhinav Bharat to carry out further investigations.

All the seven accused produced in the court had alleged that they had been tortured by ATS officials while they were in their custody and by police officials in jail.

Eleven persons have been arrested so far for their alleged involvement in the September 29 Malegaon blast in which six persons were killed and over 80 injured.