The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, prime accused in the September 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case. The high court, however, rejected former Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit's bail application.
A division bench comprising Justice Ranjit More and Shalini Phansalkar Joshi allowed the bail plea by Sadhvi Pragya Singh and directed that she be released on a surety of Rs 5 lakh.
Sadhvi has been ordered by the HC to surrender her passport to the National Investigation Agency and also be present in person as and when demanded by the agency.
Sadhvi and Purohit had filed separate bail applications, the hearings of which were concluded on February 20 and February 17, respectively.
The duo are the prime accused in the blast case that killed six people and injured about 100, when a bomb exploded on the night of September 29 in 2008.
The Maharashtra ATS filed a charge-sheet against 12 accused, including Sadhvi and Purohit. The latter was then serving with the military intelligence and was posted in Nashik. The ATS had alleged that the blast was a conspiracy hatched by Hindu extremists.
Sadhvi and Purohit had been in custody for more than eight years now since their arrest. Initially, the ATS had invoked provisions of stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against them. However, these provisions were dropped later.
