By TCN Staff Reporter,
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday granted bail to two accused of September 2008 Malegaon blasts. Shivnarayan Kalsangra and Shyam Sahu, who are in custody since October 2008, were granted bail on a surety of Rs one lakh each. The court observed there was no sufficient material to connect the duo to the blast.
“There is no sufficient material to show prima facie involvement of the two accused in the blast case. They have not taken any active part in the blast conspiracy. The only link of these two accused to the blast case is that they knew the prime accused Ramchandra Kalsangra, who is yet to be arrested,” Justice A M Thipsay has been quoted as saying by Times of India.
The court, according to the paper, observed that though the duo were aware about Ramchandra’s involvement in unlawful activities and about his strong philosophy for Hindutava, it is not sufficient to accuse them of being part of the conspiracy.
Shivnarayan is Ramchandra’s brother and Shyam was his business partner. Ramchandra is still absconding in the case.
National Investigation Agency (NIA) had earlier taken the probe from Maharashtra Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS). But NIA has not yet collected any proof of the involvement of the two.
“The NIA, which has taken over the probe recently from the State Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS), has been unable to point out specific evidence against the two accused and are claiming that the probe is still on. The trial is not yet started in the case in such circumstances the accused is not required to languish in jail,” Justice Thipsay has reportedly said.
Twelve persons including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit were arrested for carrying out blast at Malegaon on September 29, 2008 which left six persons dead and 100 others wounded.
The accused were booked under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
On the other hand, about a dozen Muslim youths of Malegaon who were held and pushed behind bars for the same blasts are yet to get bail even though RSS pracharak Swami Aseemanand admitted before a magistrate the act was the handiwork of Hindu terror group. Their bail plea has been rejected by court several times.