Supreme Court grants bail to 2008 Malegaon blast accused Lt. Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit

The Supreme Court on Monday set aside the Bombay High Court earlier order and granted bail to 2008 Malegaon blast accused Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit.

A bench of Justices R.K. Agrawal and A.M. Sapre passed the order on the plea.

Earlier on August 17, the apex court reserved its order on the bail plea of Lieutenant Colonel Purohit.

A senior lawyer, Harish Salve, appearing for Lieutenant Colonel Purohit told the court that he did not want to be discharged from the case at present, but for the interest of justice, wanted an interim bail.

Salve told the apex court that Lieutenant Colonel Purohit was allegedly caught in the political crossfire and was falsely implicated in the case.

Opposing Lieutenant Colonel Purohit's bail plea, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) argued that the Bombay High court order should be upheld by the apex court.

Lieutenant Colonel Purohit's bail plea was earlier rejected by the Bombay High Court saying the charges against him were of a grave nature, after which he moved to the top court.

Lieutenant Colonel Purohit, a former military intelligence officer, is one of the accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts, along with Sadhvi Pragya and others.

Sadhvi Pragya had been granted relief in the case by the Bombay High Court. The NIA had filed its reply in the case, saying that there was ample evidence against Purohit, but not against her.

The 2008 Malegaon serial blasts claimed four lives and left nearly 79 injured.

-ANI