Mumbai/IBNS/UNI: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Pragya Singh Thakur, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, appeared before a special NIA court in Mumbai on Monday.

However, due to the non-appearance of all the accused in the case, the court adjourned the further hearing till October 3 for the recording of their statements under Sec. 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC)۔

It may be recalled that the court was all set to record the statements of all the accused Monday following which Thakur and five other co-accused appeared before the court.

Following the nonappearance of the accused, Sudhakar Dwivedi alias Swami Amrutanand Shankaracharya, the court adjourned any further hearing.

The NIA court directed all the accused in the case to remain present on the next date to record their statements.

The development came after the prosecution informed the special judge on September 14 that the process of recording of evidence in the case was completed and no more prosecution witnesses needed to be examined in the 15-year-old terror strike case.

On Monday, besides Thakur, retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ajay Rahirkar, and Sameer Kulkarni were present in the court.

Nine people were killed and over 100 injured in the blast triggered by an explosive attached to a motorcycle near a mosque in Malegaon on September 29, 2008, triggering panic in the minority-dominated town in Nashik district.