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2008 Malegaon Blasts Case: Sadhvi Pragya Denied Bail

Malegaon Blast Accused Sadhvi Pragya Denied Bail
BHOPAL, INDIA - MAY 18: Hindu activist Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur leaving for Simhastha in Ujjain under heavy police protection on May 18, 2016 in Bhopal, India. Pragya Singh Thakur, who got a clean chit from the NIA in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, went on an indefinite hunger strike on Monday to press for her demand that she be allowed to take a dip in Kshipra in Ujjain during the ongoing Simhastha. (Photo by Praveen Bajpai/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
BHOPAL, INDIA - MAY 18: Hindu activist Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur leaving for Simhastha in Ujjain under heavy police protection on May 18, 2016 in Bhopal, India. Pragya Singh Thakur, who got a clean chit from the NIA in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, went on an indefinite hunger strike on Monday to press for her demand that she be allowed to take a dip in Kshipra in Ujjain during the ongoing Simhastha. (Photo by Praveen Bajpai/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

MUMBAI -- A special NIA court yesterday rejected the bail application of 2008 Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur who had been given a clean chit by the probe agency last month.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had also not opposed her bail application.

Special Judge S D Tekale rejected the bail plea in an in-camera hearing.

In her application, Pragya had contended that there was no evidence against her.

Though the motorcycle used in the blast was owned by her, according to one of the witnesses, it was in the possession of Ramchandra Kalsangra, an absconding accused, she had said.

Some of the witnesses, whose statements were used to implicate her, later retracted and filed complaints of torture by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), her plea said.

Earlier, the central agency, in its charge sheet filed on 13 May, had dropped all the charges against Pragya and five others, citing lack of evidence.

Nisar Ahmed Sayyed Bilal, who was among those injured in the blast, had filed an intervention application and opposed her plea.

Seven people were killed in the blast at Malegaon, a predominantly Muslim town in north Maharashtra, on 29 September, 2008.

Pragya was charged by the Maharashtra ATS in 2009 saying it was her motorcycle that was used to plant the bomb.

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