Malegaon blast: Special court rejects bail application of Lt Col Purohit and three others

Mumbai : A special court of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday rejected the bail application of Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit and three others accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case. The three accused are Swami Dayanand Pandey alias Amritananda Dev, Rakesh Dhavade and Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay. The state ATS had chargesheeted 12 alleged ‘Hindu extremists’, including Lt. Col. Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, in the case. The new special public prosecutor Avinash Rasal pointed out that the delay in the bail and other pre-trial proceedings is the accused’s own doing due to their pleas.