NIA opposes bail plea of Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh

National Investigating Agency today opposed the bail plea of a key accused in the Malegaon 2008 blast, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, in the special MCOCA court, saying she aided and abetted the other accused with the full knowledge of the strike and had offered all support.

On November 18, Thakur had filed a bail application in the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) court for the third time saying that she was falsely implicated in the case.

While opposing the bail, NIA's public prosecutor Rohini Salian told the court that, "The investigating agency has concrete evidence against her linking to the blast. She is member of an organised crime syndicate and has aided and abetted the other accused with the full knowledge to accomplish the object of conspiracy."

"A motor cycle registered in her name was used to plant the bomb," she stated.

The application filed by the NIA states that Thakur was in association with arrested as well as wanted accused Ramchandra Kalasangraha and Sandeep Dange who executed the blast and there is enough material against her in the charge sheet.

Thakur, against whom there is ample material, has not made out a case to satisfy the court to hold that there are reasonable grounds for believing that she is not guilty of offences, which are leveled against her, it said.

Further arguments over the bail plea would be heard on January 21.

Her two bail applications filed earlier, one saying that the ATS had failed to file the charge sheet in time and another one on the ground that she was ill, were rejected by the court.

In her latest application, she had stated she should be given bail on the ground of parity as three other accused in the case, Shyam Shahu, Shivji Kalsangrah and Ajay Rahirkar were given bail.

 Twelve persons including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit were arrested for carrying out blast at Malegaon on September 29, 2008, killing six persons and injuring 100 others.

The accused have been booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), besides the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The trial is yet to commence as some of the accused have challenged the invocation of MCOCA in the case before the Supreme Court, which is pending.

"Thakur along with other accused entered a criminal conspiracy to strike terror in the minds of people by exploding bomb in Malegaon," the NIA claimed adding that Thakur, a member of rightwing organisation Abhinav Bharat "had offered all logistics support required for blast bomb at the target place and insisted to procure RDX and also offered service of a close confident,".

The statements of witnesses had revealed that accused have discussed about the Malegaon bomb blast. The wanted accused Kalasangraha, the witness claimed, had admitted having planted bomb on the motor cycles of Thakur by erasing chassis and engine number at Malegaon. Thakur had asked Kalasangraha how come very few people died in the blast, the NIA stated.

"Kalasangraha replied that he did not get chance to park the motorcycle in the crowded area so he had parked it at a less crowded place," NIA said.

"Purohit had stated that Malegaon has a large number of Muslims. It was necessary to do some action there. If bomb explosion is carried out there, it will be good retaliation of atrocities on Hindus. At this time, Thakur showed her readiness to provided men for such action," the NIA stated.

Asking the court to reject Thakur's bail plea, the top agency stated that "There is every likelihood of Thakur committing further offence if bail is granted. There is every likely-hood that she would tamper with evidence and witnesses in the case. The probe is still in progress and two main wanted accused are still at large and granting bail to Thakur will jeopardize the final outcome of the case."