Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, today sought bail from the Bombay High Court saying there was no material to implicate her and the National Investigation Agency had given her a 'clean chit' earlier.
Hearing arguments advanced by her lawyer Akash Gupta, a bench of justices Ranjit More and Shalini Phansalkar-Joshi asked NIA to submit its pleadings on January 19.
Sadhvi's lawyer argued that his client was a woman and held in custody for the last eight years. Besides, she was suffering from cancer, he said urging the court to grant bail.
In her plea, Sadhvi claimed the special NIA court which had rejected her bail plea on June 28 last year had failed to take into consideration the "change in circumstances".
In November 2015, following an order of the apex court, Sadhvi had filed a bail plea before the special NIA court which was rejected after the court held that there existed prima facie evidence against her.
However, in May 2016, NIA filed a charge sheet in the case absolving Sadhvi of all charges. NIA also dropped the stringent charge of MCOCA against all accused.
Sadhvi applied for bail in the trial court but her plea was rejected. She then moved the high court with a fresh bail plea and challenged the trial court order which had rejected her prayer for liberty.
Sadhvi claimed her health has been deteriorating since her arrest eight years ago and that she has become 'infirm' due to the numerous hardships she has undergone during the probe by ATS.
Six persons were killed in the blast at Malegaon, a powerloom town in north Maharashtra, in September 2008.
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