A Dewas court has framed charges against eight people, including 2008 Malegaon blast case accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, in connection with the murder of former RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi.

Second Additional Sessions Judge Rajendra Kumar Verma yesterday framed the charges under section 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code against Pragya Thakur, Vasudev Parmar and Anand Raj Kataria.

The court also framed charges under sections 120 (B) and 302 (murder) of IPC against others accused -- Harshad Solanki, Lokesh Sharma, Rajendra Chaudhary, Ram Chandra Patel and Jitendra Sharma. Joshi had been chargesheeted by the National Investigation Agency in connection with 2007 Samjhauta Express train blast case. He was shot dead on December 29, 2007 when he was walking back to his hideout at Chuna Khadan locality in Dewas town of Madhya Pradesh.

The MP police, after having closed the Joshi murder case, reopened it and filed a charge sheet in Dewas, alleging Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, arrested in the Malegaon blasts case, and four others had murdered him, fearing he might expose the entire conspiracy from Samjhauta to Ajmer blasts.