HC to hear Sadhavi's bail plea on Jan 29

The Bombay High Court today posted the bail plea of Sadhavi Pragya Singh Thakur, prime accused in Malegaon 2008 bomb blast case, for final hearing on January 29.
Thakur is accused of hatching the conspiracy with others which led to the September 29, 2008 blast at Malegaon in Nashik district in which six persons were killed. She was arrested on October 23, 2008.
She has sought bail on the ground that she is suffering from spondylitis and other serious ailments for which hospitalisation is needed.
Her lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani today submitted before a bench headed by Justice P V Hardas that her plea against a lower court order rejecting her bail was pending in the High Court since October 2012 and may be heard urgently.

Accordingly, the bench decided to hear the matter on January 29.
Earlier, Justice Abhay Thipsay of the High Court had heard Sadhavi's bail petition and reserved order. But before he could give order on her bail plea, the Supreme Court ruled that all the bail matters in NIA investigation cases have to come up in the form of appeals before a division bench.
Accordingly, Thakur's petition was converted into an appeal and has now come up for hearing before a division bench headed by Justice Hardas which has fixed the date for final hearing on January 29.
Thakur, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2012, had sought bail on medical ground to undergo treatment. While NIA had offered to get her admitted to Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai, she refused to undergo the treatment in police custody, saying she wanted to be released on bail first.