2008 Malegaoan blast case: Col Purohit moves SC after being denied bail by HC

Colonel Purohit moves SC against HC order of rejecting his bail plea in Malegaon blast case / ANI image

New Delhi: Lt Col Purohit, accused in 2008 Malegoan blasts has now moved Supreme Court against Bombay High Court order of rejecting his bail plea. This comes two a days after Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, another accused in the case was granted a bail from the court. The Bombay High Court had in its order refused to grant bail to Purohit on April 25. Lawyer, Neela Gokhle had mentioned the matter before the Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India Jagdish Singh Khehar. The Supreme Court, however, said it would hear the matter in due course of timing. Charges against Purohit:

• Purohit is facing charges of murder, voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc
• He is also being charged with relevant sections under The Arms Act, The Indian Explosive Substance Act, and UAPA.

On the other hand, Sadhvi Pragya Thakur had accused Congress of a conspiracy, and said that she was a victim of Congress’ conspiracy. Meanwhile, Congress said it was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that helped Thakur in getting bail. Congress Raju Waghmare quoted the government’s counsel in the Malegaon Blast case, who alleged the National Investigation Agency (NIA) of putting pressure on her to go slow, saying that there was a scheme to let Pragya get bail. After pointing fingers at Congress, Thakur criticised Congress leader P. Chidambaram for linking saffron to terrorism. "For misbeliever, saffron is always linked to terrorism, because they are afraid of it. For the demon, saffron is the strongest weapon," she added. Thakur said she would undergo treatment and blamed the Mumbai Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) for her ailment. After being granted bail, Thakur was directed to submit her passport to the National Investigative Agency (NIA) court and appear on the dates mentioned before the trial court. The NIA had informed the court that it had no objection to the court granting bail to Thakur.