Malegaon Blast case : SC to hear Prasad Purohit's bail plea today

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved order on former Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit's bail plea in the Malegaon blast case.

On 14 August, the top court had announced that it will hear the bail plea of Malegaon blast case accused, former Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit on 17 August. A division bench of the apex court, headed by Justice R. K. Agrawal and also comprising Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar, decided to hear the bail plea.

The Bombay High Court had earlier dismissed the bail plea of Lt. Col Purohit. Lt. Col Purohit then moved the apex court challenging the Bombay High Court's order and seeking bail in the case. Besides Lt. Col Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya is also an accused in the Malegaon blast case.

Seven people were killed in a bomb blast on September 29, 2008, at Malegaon, a communally-sensitive textile town in Nasik district of north Maharashtra. A special MCOCA (Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act) court had earlier ruled that the Anti-Terrorist Squad had wrongly applied this law against Thakur, Purohit and nine others.

The 4,000-page charge sheet had alleged that Malegaon was selected as the blast target because of a sizeable Muslim population there. It had named Thakur, Purohit and co-accused, Swami Dayanand Pandey as the key conspirators.