No proof, 2 Malegaon blast accused get bail

Two accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, Shivnarayan Kalsangra and Shyam Sahu, were granted bail by the Bombay high court on Wednesday.

The court said there was no evidence to show that the two were directly involved.

Single judge Abhay Thipsay granted bail to the duo on a personal bond of Rs1 lakh each and a surety of the same amount with the condition that they would have to come to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) office whenever required. “There is no sufficient material to show prima facie involvement of the two accused in the case,” said Judge Thipsay.

“They have not taken any active part in the blast conspiracy. The only link of these two to the blast case is that they knew the prime accused Ramchandra Kalsangra, who is still at large.”

The duo has been in custody for their alleged role in the bomb blast case since October 2008.

“Though the duo was aware about absconding accused Ramchandra’s involvement in unlawful activities and about his strong philosophy for Hindutava, it is not sufficient to accuse them of being part of the conspiracy,” said the court order.

As per the prosecution, Shivnarayan — who is absconding accused Ramchandra’s brother — and Shyam, his business partner, were part of the criminal conspiracy hatched by the absconding accused and arrested accused to plant and execute the blast at Malegaon on September 29, 2008.

Six people were killed and over 100 injured in the blast.
“NIA has recently taken over the probe from the state Anti-Terrorism Squad.

It has been unable to point out specific evidence against the two and they are claiming that the probe is still on. The trial has not yet started and in such circumstances the accused is not required to languish in jail,” the court said.

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