No objection to Sadhvi Pragnya's discharge in 2008 Malegaon case: NIA

In a major development in the 2008 Malegaon terror attacks case, the NIA on Friday told a special court that it was not opposing the discharge plea by Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Chandrapalsingh Thakur, one of the prime accused.

"I have filed a reply to her discharge plea. As per the (NIA) stand, we have not objected to the discharge plea," Special Public Prosecution Avinash Rasal told the court.

The Sadhvi had moved the special court seeking discharge in the Malegaon 2008 case on May 3, and the matter will be heard further on May 29.

The development comes barely a fortnight after she was granted bail by Bombay High Court on April 25 on a bail of Rs 500,000 and set free two days later.

The 44-year old Sadhvi is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer at the Khushilal Ayurvedic Hospital in her home town, Bhopal.

She was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad after the September 29, 2008 blast in a dense Muslim-dominated area of Malegaon town in Nashik. The Navratri-eve blast claimed six lives and left over a 100 others injured.

The case which was investigated by the Maharashtra Police was later taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Sadhvi was accused on two major counts: that she was part of the blast conspiracy meetings in Bhopal and the use of her LML Freedom motorcycle for planting the explosives.

Expressing serious doubts on these, the Bombay HC had granted her bail, nearly nine years after her arrest on October 23, 2008.

A division bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi had ruled that, prima facie, there was no case made out against the Sadhvi, who was granted bail 11 months after the NIA gave her a 'clean chit' in May 2016.

However, a plea by her co-accused -- former Army officer Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit -- was rejected by the High Court. Purohit had challenged a lower court's rejection of his bail plea.

--IANS

qn/vd