By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
The Bombay High Court today granted bail to 2008 Malegaon blasts accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur on a surety of Rs 5 lakh. However, the High court eventually rejected the bail plea of Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, who is the co-accused in this case.
A bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Shalini Phansalkar Joshi said that the court had found no prima facie evidence against Thakur.
Sadhvi Pragya had appealed to Bombay High Court after NIA court had rejected her bail plea even after charges were dropped against her in May 2016. NIA said that there were no substantial evidences against Pragya Thakur that proved her involvement in the case.
The court has also directed Pragya Thakur to deposit her passport to NIA court and to report to NIA whenever asked for. The NIA did not object to the bail order.
Avinash Gupta, Thakur’s counsel, had argued in the past that Sadhvi Pragya did not own the motorcycle used in the blast as it was sold to absconding accused four years before the blasts. He also said that victims had retracted their statements, therefore the benefit for that should go to the accused Thakur.
Around 35 people were killed and more 100 got injured when blasts occurred near a mosque in Malegaon on September 29, 2008. The blast happened in a Muslim locality of Malegaon on the auspicious day of Shab-e-Baraat.
Previously, it was speculated that blasts were the work of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) but later on, the NIA found out and filed the chargesheet against Abhinav Bharat Trust, who allegedly supplied the explosives and planned the attack.