Bombay High Court grants bail to Malegaon blast accused

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to former Major Ramesh Upadhyay, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case. A division bench of Justice Ranjit More and Justice Sadhana Jadhav, granted bail on grounds of parity as other accused, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Colonel Prasad Purohit have been released.

The bench granted bail on a surety of Rs 1 lakh and with a condition that he will not leave India, without permission from the trial court. Upadhyay is fifth accused to be granted bail in the case. Advocate Sandesh Patil appearing for National Investigation Agency (NIA), opposed the plea.

However, the court asked whether the role attributed to the present accused was more serious than those who were released earlier. This claim was negated by the accused counsel and the NIA.

The NIA has relied on telephone transcripts between Upadhyay and Purohit to allege that he was part of the conspiracy.