By Twocircles.net Staff reporter,
Mumbai: A special NIA court here on Saturday rejected the bail application of 2008 Malegaon blast accused, Major Ramesh Upadhyay.
“ Consdiering all (these) facts as well as peculiar circumstances of this case, nature and gravity of the offence, coupled with restrictuion imposed by subsection (5) of Section 43D of the UAPAct, I think that the applicant is not entitled to be released on bail,” Special NIA Judge S D Tekale observed in the order.
On September 29, 2008 blast had taken place at Bhiku square opposite Shakil Goods Transport Company in a textile town Malegaon. The blast was caused by LML Freedom motorcycle with explosives concealed inside. 4 people had dead and 79 injured due to the blast.
Upadhyay was booked for his role in hatching the conspiracy along with Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit. The two were members of Abhinav Bharat, an extremist Hindu organisation. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which probed the blast, alleged that Upadhyay attended meetings — during which the conspiracy was hatched — at Bhopal, Faridabad and other places.
“On January 25 and 26 in 2008, a secret meeting was held at Faridabad, during which Upadhyay accepted Purohit’s theory that a separate constitution and flag (bhagwa flag) were needed for a Hindu Rashtra. He participated in a discussion on the formation of a central Hindu government (Aryawart) against the Indian government and proposed to form this government in Israel or Thailand,” reads the charge sheet filed by the agency.
Adv. Wahab Khan appointed by Jamiat-Ulama-e-Maharashtra (Arshad Madni) to represent intervene Nisar Ahmed successfully argued to convince court in rejecting the bail application. Special public prosecutor Avinash Rasal objected to the bail plea. The prosecution contended that though the meetings did not involve explicit discussions on bombing Malegaon, the atrocities committed by Muslims were discussed.
Upadhyay, in his bail plea, said recordings of the meetings showed that the organisation held only general discussions regarding the establishment of Abhinav Bharat. “These are aimless talks, sheer frustration expressed by the accused on society’s state of affairs, and utopian ideas, which could not have and have not been implemented in any manner,” reads the bail plea.
Defence lawyer Pasbola argued that the meetings did not involve discussions on bombing Malegaon. He also questioned the agency for not implicating Abhinav Bharat’s president and other members who attended these meetings. He also contended that most of the witnesses have retracted their statements to NIA.
Adv. Khan asserted that trial court has to look into both the charge sheets to decide the bail application at the present juncture.
Prosecutor Rasal contended that call data record (CDR) analysis of Upadhyay and Purohit’s mobile phones showed that the two were in contact. He said Abhinav Bharat’s earlier president and other executive members withdrew their membership from the organisation owing to Purohit’s activities.
Considering the prosecution’s case and evidences presented by the anti terrorism squad (ATS) and NIA, the special court refused to grant bail to Upadhyay.
Earlier court has rejected bail to Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and Col. Purohit sighting enough prosecutable evidences against them to deny bail.