2008 Malegaon blast case: Bombay HC admits Colonel Purohit's discharge application

The Bombay High Court on Friday admitted discharge application of Lt. Colonel Purohit accused in 2008 Malegaon blast case. The final hearing in the case to be held on July 16.

Lt. Col. Shrikant Prasad Purohit approached the Bombay High Court, seeking permission to challenge earlier rulings rejecting his discharge plea.

On December 17, 2017, the high court had refused to quash the government's sanction for Purohit's prosecution. A sanction was needed to prosecute him as he was a serving Army officer. The HC had also refused to discharge him.

The Supreme Court granted bail to Lt. Col. Shrikant Prasad Purohit in on August 21, 2017.

A Bench of Justices R.K. Agrawal and A.M. Sapre said they were setting aside the Bombay High Court order denying bail to him. The apex court said it has imposed certain conditions on Purohit while granting bail.

Purohit told the apex court that he had been caught in a "political crossfire" and languishing in jail for nine years. He had moved the apex court challenging the Bombay High Court's order dismissing his bail plea.

Seven people were killed in a bomb blast on September 29, 2008 at Malegaon, a communally-sensitive textile town in Nashik district of north Maharashtra. A special MCOCA court had earlier ruled that the ATS had wrongly applied this law against Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, Purohit and nine others.

(With PTI inputs)