Malegaon blast: Bombay HC adjourns Sadhvi Pragya's bail plea

New Delhi [India], Dec. 16 (ANI): The Bombay High Court on Friday adjourned 2008 Malegoan blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur's bail plea till January 12, 2017. The High Court earlier on November 30 started hearing arguments put forth by Sadhvi Pragya's defence counsel with respect to her bail plea in the Malegaon blast case. A Special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court had earlier in June rejected her bail application. Earlier, the Bombay High Court had issued notices to eight persons who were discharged in the 2006 Malegaon bomb blast case by a special court on April 26. A division bench of Justices RV More and Shalini Phansalkar Joshi had issued notices to Noorul Huda, Raees Ahmed, Salman Farsi, Farogh Magdumi, Shaikh Mohammed Ali, Asif Khan, Mohammed Zahid and Abrar Ahmed while seeking their replies. The special court's decision to absolve the accused of all terror charges was based on the NIA's findings that showed the 2006 blast was the handiwork of a Hindu extremist group. After the special court's verdict, the state government filed an appeal before the High Court, challenging the order to discharge the eight accused. Urging the High Court to set aside the order, the state government contended that the sessions' court's order was "illegal and unjust" and was contrary to the evidence on record. In its appeal, the Maharashtra Government argued that the trial court's conclusion that Muslims would not plant bombs inside a mosque was "wrong" and had "no legal basis". The serial bomb blasts outside a cemetery near Hamidia mosque at Malegaon near Nashik on September 8, 2006, claimed 37 lives and injured over 100 people. (ANI)