Malegaon blast: HC admits discharge pleas of Thakur, Kulkarni

The Bombay High Court today admitted pleas filed by Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and her co-accused Sameer Kulkarni seeking discharge from the case.

Six persons were killed and over a 100 injured when an explosive device, strapped on a motorcycle, went off near a mosque in Malegaon in Maharashtra on September 29, 2008.

Thakur and Kulkarni have challenged the order of a special NIA court, which on December 27 last year, had dismissed their pleas of discharge.

The NIA court had, however, given them partial relief by dropping charges against them under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).

Thakur and her co-accused are still facing charges under the UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and some provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

Advocate Prashant Maggu, the lawyer for Thakur and Kulkarni, today told a high court bench of Justices Ranjit More and Anuja Prabhudessai that the special court had erred in rejecting the discharge pleas.

He pointed out that the NIA, the prosecuting agency in the case, had granted a clean chit to Thakur in its charge sheet.

Maggu also told the court that during the hearing on a bail plea filed by Thakur in the high court last year, the NIA had even told the HC on record that it had no objections to Thakur being discharged from the case.

"In the order granting bail to Thakur, the high court had, at the time, noted that there was no prima facie evidence against her," Maggu told the bench.

He added that the NIA had also failed to produce relevant evidence against Kulkarni in its charge sheet.

Last month, this bench had also admitted the discharge plea filed by Lt Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit, a co-accused in the case.