Sadhvi Pragya on hunger strike, demands Kumbh visit

Bhopal:  Sadhvi Pragya, who was given a clean chit in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case by the National Investigation Agency, on Monday began a hunger strike here, demanding that she be allowed to take part in Simhastha Kumbh at Ujjain, said one of her kin. A court in Dewas had allowed Pragya's petition that she be allowed to perform the Kumbh pilgrimage to Ujjain, but police have been preventing her visit citing security issues, her brother-in-law Bhagwan Jha told reporters here. Pragya has been lodged in Bhopal Central Jail since March 2012. She is an accused in the December 2007 murder of former Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) 'pracharak' Sunil Joshi in Dewas. Pragya has currently been undergoing treatment for various health problems as an in-patient at Khushilal Government Ayurveda Institute here. "Sadhvi Pragya has stopped taking food and medicines. Unless she is allowed to go to Ujjain, she says she will give up her life," Jha said. Pragya has also written to President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi voicing her demand, he added. Simhastha Kumbh started in Ujjain on April 22 and concludes on May 21.