A special NIA court on Thursday granted bail to 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case accused Praveen Takkalki.
A special NIA court on Thursday granted bail to 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case accused Praveen Takkalki.
Special NIA judge Shripad Tekale granted bail to Takkalki on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and he has been asked to bring two sureties of the amount.
Special public prosecutor of the case Avinash Rasal said that the court has also asked Takkalki to remain present before the court on the 30th day of every month and also attend court proceedings whenever they are held. Mr Rasal confirmed that the prosecution had not taken any objection to granting him bail considering that the investigating agency has exonerated him in the supplementary chargesheet.
Takkalki had approached the special NIA court after the agency filed its chargesheet, stating that there was not enough evidence available against him.
Takkalki was arrested in 2011 by the Maharashtra ATS and is alleged to be a close associate of Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, an accused in the case. In its reply, the NIA has referred to its chargesheet stating that the only evidence against Takkalki are the facts mentioned by him in his confessional statements. With the NIA stating that MCOCA should be revoked in the case, the statements do not retain their value as evidence, leaving no other evidence against Takkalki. In the ATS case, it was alleged that Takkalki had participated in the training camp of Abhinav Bharat at Panchmarhi in October 2008.
Interestingly, the same court has sometime ago rejected the bail application filed by Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. The NIA has given a clean chit to Thakur and the prosecution had not taken any objection on releasing her on bail, but the court did not grant her custody observing that with all the evidence in hand, relying on which the NIA had given her the clean chit, the agency had opposed her earlier bail plea.
The judge had also observed that it is not disputed that the motorcycle used in the blast belonged to the sadhvi, though as per her claim, it was not in her use.
