Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Friday admitted Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit’s plea seeking discharge in the 2008 Malegaon blasts, which killed six people and injured 101.
A Division Bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Anuja Prabhudessai was hearing an appeal filed by Lt. Col. Purohit, challenging the rejection of his discharge plea by the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court in December 2017. Around the same time, the court had dropped the MCOCA charges against him and seven others.
The HC will hear Lt. Col. Purohit’s plea on July 16.
After his bail was rejected thrice by the lower court, he finally got bail on August 21, 2017, by the Supreme Court. The apex court had held that he had been caught in a political crossfire and languishing in jail for nine years.
He has been charged with murder, voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony, under various sections of the Arms Act, the Indian Explosive Substance Act, and the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
