The trial in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case will continue on Tuesday at a special National Investigation Agency court in Mumbai, a day after two witnesses recorded their statements, The Hindu reported.

Special Public Prosecutor Avinash Rasal examined the witnesses, reported the Hindustan Times. The first witness – a doctor who carried out the autopsy of four of the six people killed in the blast – told the court that the victims had multiple injuries on their bodies due to the explosion.

A local physician in Malegaon who had examined an injured person told the court that the person’s hearing was impaired and he had lost his ability to speak because of the blast. Rasal had earlier submitted that the prosecution would examine medical experts since some of the accused have not accepted the medical examination reports of the blast victims and the injured.

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The cross examination of witnesses was adjourned because the lawyer of one of the accused, Sudhakar Dwivedi, failed to appear in court. Special judge Vinod Padalkar penalised him Rs 2,500.

The National Investigation Agency has submitted a list of 286 witnesses – including doctors, police officers and forensic experts – and more than 200 documents. Seven people are accused in the case, including Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Purohit, Pragya Singh Thakur, Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi and Sudhakar Chaturvedi. On October 30, the court charged them with terror conspiracy, murder and other related offences. The accused have pleaded not guilty.

Purohit, who is suspected to have links to radical Hindutva outfit Abhinav Bharat, was arrested in 2008 for allegedly planning the blasts. He is being tried under Section 18 (conspiracy) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other sections of the Indian Penal Code.