Col. Purohit granted bail: Owaisi accuses PM Modi for going soft on Hindu accused

After the Supreme Court granted bail to 2008 Malegaon blast accused Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday accused the Prime Minister Narendra Modi Government for going soft on the cases where the Hindus are alleged accused

"In the larger picture, since 2014, since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the charge at the Centre, there has been a pattern in such cases. All the cases involving the Hindus as the alleged accused are dropped," Owaisi told the reporters here.

Owaisi said that bail is the right of the people of India, and questioned as to why it is not being granted to Muslims, Dalits and tribals, with who the Indian jails are filled.

"Terror should not be looked through the prism of the religion. Terror exists and people use religion," he said.

The Hyderabad MP said that there were strong evidences against Col. Purohit that he was involved in the Malegaon blast and still he has been exonerated.

Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court set aside the Bombay High Court earlier order and granted bail to Purohit.

A bench of Justices R.K. Agrawal and A.M. Sapre passed the order on the plea.

Earlier on August 17, the apex court reserved its order on the bail plea of Lieutenant Colonel Purohit.

Senior lawyer, Harish Salve, appearing for Lieutenant Colonel Purohit told the court that he did not want to be discharged from the case at present, but for the interest of justice, wanted an interim bail.

Salve told the apex court that Lieutenant Colonel Purohit was allegedly caught in the political crossfire and was falsely implicated in the case.

Opposing Lieutenant Colonel Purohit's bail plea, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) argued that the Bombay High court order should be upheld by the apex court.

Lieutenant Colonel Purohit's bail plea was earlier rejected by the Bombay High Court saying the charges against him were of a grave nature, after which he moved to the top court.

Lieutenant Colonel Purohit, a former military intelligence officer, is one of the accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts, along with Sadhvi Pragya and others.

The 2008 Malegaon serial blasts claimed four lives and left nearly 79 injured.