Malegaon Blast: Bombay High Court dismisses discharge plea of Lt. Col Prasad Purohit
Bombay High Court on Monday rejected the discharge plea filed by Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, a prime accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. A two-bench judge comprising Justices AS Gadkari and Prakash Naik dismissed Purohit’s appeal stating that causing a bomb blast is not an official duty.
Purohit was arrested in 2008 and charged under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and various other offences. BJP MP Pragya Singh and five others were also accused in the Malegaon blast that killed six people and injured over 101.
The Bench said that Purohit was not on duty when the bombing conspiracy was being formed at the Abhinav Bharat meetings.
The decision was made after Purohit filed an appeal challenging a lower court judgement that had rejected his discharge application on the grounds that the Centre lacked the necessary authorization to bring charges against a serving army commander.
Purohit, a serving army officer, was charged with a crime after it was discovered that he had attended meetings of Abhinav Bharat.
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Purohit applied for discharge from the Malegaon blast case on the basis of two grounds. First, he said that he had been attending the meetings after informing his superiors about the same and also claimed to have been on duty at the same time.
Second, that since he was a serving officer, the prosecution agency was required to obtain sanction from the requisite authorities, and they had obtained an improper sanction.
On September 29, 2008, bomb blasts took place in the Malegaon region of the Nashik district of Maharashtra. Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Purohit were among those who were arrested in connection with the blast.
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