Mumbai, Jan 22, : A special MCOCA court on Thursday gave its nod to Mumbai Police' Anti-terrorist Squad to invoke Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against the 11 arrested accused in the Malegaon blast case by stating that there was prima facie evidence against them of having aided and conspired to commit criminal activities.

The special MCOCA court took cognizance of the 4000-page chargesheet filed in the case observing that invoking MCOCA was valid in the case.

The eleven accused includes Lt. Col Prasad Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had filed a chargesheet against arrested accused on January 20.

MCOCA was invoked in the Malegaon case after one of the accused Rakesh Dhawde was chargehseeted in two other cases.

Rohini Salian, Special public prosecutor, told that Dhawde had committed more than one offence and that the sanction for invocation of MCOCA was given after the competent authority, a senior IPS officer, perused the documents.

Special MCOCA Judge Y D Shinde, after perusing the chargesheet, observed that there was sufficient material against the accused of having aided, abetted and conspired to commit criminal activities.

Accepting the prosecution''s arguments, the court today took cognizance of the chargesheet, in which the accused have been charged under MCOCA, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Indian Penal Code (IPC), Arms Act and Explosive Substances Act.

The next hearing in the case is on 12th February when the judicial custody of all the 11 accused ends.

Anti Terrorist Squad had fileda chargesheet on Tuesday, against all the 11 accused in Malegaon blasts, in which six people were killed. (ANI)