The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted bail to retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case, on the ground that other prime accused in the case had earlier been granted bail in the case.
In a development that came on the heels of the Supreme Court granting bail to prime accused lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit and a special court giving similar relief to two other accused – Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi and Sudhakar Chaturvedi, the high court granted bail to Upadhyay on the ground of parity.
While granting him bail on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and 2 solvent sureties, a HC bench of Justices Ranjit More and Sadhna Jadhav directed Upadhyay to appear in trial court as and when required.
Though the National Investigating Agency's (NIA) counsel Sandesh Patil opposed Upadhyay’s bail plea, the HC bench observed that “our hands are tied” in view of the apex court's directions on parity.
The HC bench asked both NIA and the defence lawyer if Upadhyay's role in the 2008 Malegaon blasts was larger than that of prime accused Shrikant Purohit. Both NIA’s lawyer Sandesh Patil and Major (retd) Upadhyay's lawyer Sudip Pasbola said that the role played by Upadhyay was of “lesser” nature.
The NIA, it may be recalled, had in its charge sheet cited transcripts of phone conversations between Upadhyay and Purohit as prime evidence against the former.
Making a case for the grant of bail to his client on the ground of parity, Pasbola told the court: “The Supreme Court recently granted bail to Purohit. Similarly, the trial court last week granted bail two other accused in the case, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi. Hence, Upadhyay too must be granted bail".
While lt Col Prasad Purohit was granted bail by the Supreme Court on August 21, another prime accused Sadhvi Pragya had been granted bail earlier by the Bombay High Court on
April 25, 2017.
Two other accused Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi and Sudhakar Chaturvedi were granted bail by the NIA court on September 19.