2008 Malegaon blasts: Court rejects Sadhvi Pragya Singh’s bail plea

The designated court set up to hear the 2008 Malegaon blast case on Tuesday rejected the bail application of Sadhvi Pragya Singh, who has been given a clean chit by the National Investigating Agency (NIA).

On May 13, NIA had submitted a supplementary charge sheet giving clean chit to six accused including Sadhvi and also recommended to drop all the charges against them. The agency said that they don’t have sufficient evidence to prosecute Sadhvi, after which Sadhvi had applied for bail.

Sadhvi’s advocate J P Mishra had on May 30 filed a bail application on the ground that the NIA has not pressed any charges against her owing to lack of evidence and that her health is deteriorating. The defence pleaded that she had no knowledge of how her motorbike was used in the blast and she had never given her consent for the same. He also said that the bike had been sold long before the incident.

The central agency also did not object to the bail plea saying that they don’t have any evidence against her.

However, victims of the blast had intervened in the hearing and objected to the bail application. The advocates for the victims, Sharif Sheikh and Wahab Khan, had criticised NIA on their decision of giving a clean chit to Sadhvi. They contended that the state agency, Maharashtara Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), had gathered enough of evidence against Sadhvi and charges of MCOCA are applicable to the case. They pleaded that the court has to now see all the material available before it and decide the case.

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