The Bombay High Court on Wednesday told the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to file an affidavit in an appeal by Col. Prasad Purohit, an accused in the Malegaon blasts, against the NIA court rejecting his bail.
On October 15, a Division Bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice P.D. Naik on hearing the bail plea filed by Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur told the agency to produce previous judgements pertaining to the matter. The same Bench on Wednesday admitted the appeal and tagged both the petitions and posted the matter to November 16.
On September 26, the NIA court rejected the second bail plea by the Col. in the blasts that killed six persons and injured over 100.
Special Judge S.D. Tekale said prima facie there is evidence and a case against the Col. “Considering all these facts and peculiar circumstances of the case, nature and gravity of the offence coupled with restrictions imposed by provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, he was not entitled to the bail,” the Judge said. The supplementary charge sheet filed by the NIA on June 9 had said that the Col. had floated Abhinav Bharat organisation in 2006 in spite of being a serving Commissioned Officer of the Armed forces of India.
He along with the other accused had collected funds for the organisation and directed to disburse it to procure weapons and explosives for their unlawful activities. He is one of the key members of the criminal conspiracy.
