Pragya Thakur gets bail in 2008 Malegaon blasts case
Pragya Singh Thakur, who was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) eight years ago for her alleged role in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, was granted bail by the Bombay high court on Tuesday.
But the same court rejected Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit’s plea for bail.
The bench of justice Ranjit More and justice Shalini Phansalkar-joshi relied upon the declaration made earlier this year by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which had taken over the probe from the ATS, that it had no objection to Thakur being granted bail considering that there existed no evidence against her.
The bench also noted that even if it were to consider the charge sheets filed by the ATS and NIA “conjointly,” there existed no “reasonable grounds for believing that accusation made against Thakur are prima facie true.”
The same bench, however, noted that the perusal of both the charge sheets revealed that “prima facie, there was more than sufficient material on record against” former army man and Thakur’s co-accused in the case, Purohit.
The court thus rejected Purohit’s plea for bail in the case, saying it had “reasonable grounds for believing that accusations made against Purohit were true, which is why, the NIA had chosen to grant a “clean chit” to Thakur and some others, but not to him.