HC rejects Pragya Thakur's bail plea

The Bombay High Court on Friday rejected the plea of 2008 Malegaon blast case prime accused sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur for liberty observing that no case had been made out for granting bail.

Justice S C Dharmadhikari also rejected her argument that she had been illegally detained before her arrest on October 23, 2008.

Her lawyer Mahesh Jethamalani had argued that she had been in the custody of Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of Maharashtra since October 10, 2008.

However, in the chargesheet, the date of arrest was shown as October 23. But court noted that she seemed to be free to travel, without police surveillance, between October 10 and October 23.

The court said there were contradictions between her affidavit before Human Rights Commission complaining about custodial torture, and her case before the court.

The ATS started probing Thakur's role in the blast conspiracy after finding out that the motorcycle on which the bomb was planted allegedly belonged to her.

However, she had pleaded that the motorcycle was sold by her to someone else prior to the blast. Six persons were killed in the blast, allegedly carried out by Hindu terror group Abhinav Bharat. Earlier, the trial court had also rejected her bail.