The Supreme Court yesterday granted bail to Lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit after eight years and eight months in jail in connection with the Malegaon twin blasts, in which seven people were killed during Ramzan on September 29, 2008
Lt Col Shrikant Purohit
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The Supreme Court yesterday granted bail to Lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit after eight years and eight months in jail in connection with the Malegaon twin blasts, in which seven people were killed during Ramzan on September 29, 2008.
Purohit is accused of being the founder of right-wing extremist group Abhinav Bharat and of financing the blasts.
The SC observed, “In our considered opinion, there are material contradictions in the charge sheets filed by the ATS Mumbai and the NIA, which are required to be tested at the time of trial, and this court cannot pick or choose one version over the other. At the stage of granting bail, a detailed examination of evidence and elaborate documentation of the merits of the case has not been undertaken.”
Bail cannot be denied because of the sentiments of (a) community, the court added, saying, “The grant or denial is regulated, to a large extent, by the facts and circumstances of each particular case. But, at the same time, right to bail can’t be denied merely because of the sentiments of the community against the accused.”
In its conclusion, the apex court said, “The appellant herein, who was at the relevant time an intelligence officer of the Indian Army, has refuted the claim of conspiracy on the ground of intelligence inputs, which he informed his superiors...
“Keeping in view that NIA has submitted the supplementary charge sheet, which is at variance with the charge sheet filed by the ATS, and that the trial is likely to take a long time and the appellant has been in prison for eight years and eight months, we are of the considered view that the appellant has made out a prima facie case for release on bail…”
Case diary
The NIA had filed its charge sheet on May 13, dropping the chargers under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against all the accused. Purohit had then filed for bail in the sessions court and later the HC, but both pleas had been rejected. The case is currently at the stage of framing of charges against all the accused in the sessions court. On April 25, the Bombay High Court had granted bail to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a key accused, holding that, prima facie, no case was made out against her.
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