The Bombay High Court today granted bail to Sadhvi Pragya – the prime accused in the 2008 Malegaon Blasts. Earlier in March, the High Court had reserved its order on the bail plea. She was in jail for the last eight years, though Sadhvi Pragya was moved to a Bhopal hospital recently for medical treatment.
Meanwhile, Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit was denied bail by the court, and according to reports, the court hasn’t released the reasons for denying bail to him.
Pragya moved the High Court after the special court that hears terror cases probed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) rejected her bail plea.
On September 29, 2008, two bombs exploded in Malegaon, Maharashtra, killing at least seven people and injuring over 100. Sadhvi Pragya was arrested in October that year and Col Purohit in November.
The chargesheet filed by the NIA this year had said that Purohit flouted the service rules by forming the outfit in 2006, despite being an army man. The investigating agency said Purohit and the other accused collected funds for the outfit, which were then used to buy weapons.
In his bail plea, Purohit had reportedly said that he was acting in discharge of his duty to gather more intelligence.
“The circumstances show Abhinav Bharat was to become a political party and even a registration form for the same was found through the sources of the accused,” read the bail plea.
The state ATS had chargesheeted 12 alleged ‘Hindu extremists’, including Lt. Col. Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, in the case.
(With ANI inputs)
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