20 January,2017 07:21 AM IST | | Sailee Dhayalkar
The special National Investigating Agency (NIA) court yesterday allowed the application of Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts, to contest the UP Assembly elections
Ramesh Upadhyay
The special National Investigating Agency (NIA) court yesterday allowed the application of Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts, to contest the UP Assembly elections.
Upadhyay (60) lodged in Taloja jail, had filed an application last week before the NIA court saying that he wants to contest the election from Miriya Village. He had already secured a no-objection certificate from the jail authorities and NIA also didn't object to it.
After the application was allowed, Upadhyay went to file a provisional bail for a month, starting February 4 to March 4, for the elections. The court has taken the application on record and it will be argued soon.
He is accused of conspiracy, meetings and indoctrination with prime accused Lt Col S P Purohit for the blast, which killed six and injured over 100 on September 29, 2008.
This is not the first time Upadhyay has been allowed to contest the polls. In 2012, too, he'd contested the election from the same village through the Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha. He was granted permission by the MCOCA court, but was not allowed to campaign by the Bombay High Court. However, he didn't apply for provisional bail. Soon after, he'd lost the election.
