In the wake of the Supreme Court granting bail to 2008 Malegaon blast accused Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) general secretary Sitaram Yechury dubbed the verdict to be 'surprising and strange', adding that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) must issue a clarification.
"It is a very surprising verdict that has been delivered. It is the same NIA that was responsible for the arrest of Pragya Thakur, Aseemanand, and Col. Purohit. Now, these people are given bail, with Col. Purohit being the latest addition. The NIA must come out and clarify why the arrests were made in the first place, if bail was subsequently to be given, because this questions their credibility" Yechury said to the reporters here.
Responding to the extensions that were given to the NIA Chief, Yechury alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched.
"This is the government of extensions. The NIA chief's tenure was extended; retired officers from Gujarat were summoned to resume duty. There is surely some conspiracy behind this," he said.
Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court set aside the Bombay High Court earlier order and granted bail to 2008 Malegaon blast accused Lieutenant Colonel Purohit.
A bench of Justices R.K. Agrawal and A.M. Sapre passed the order on the plea.
In this regard, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said it was expected, as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government is trying to protect all the accused connected with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in the bomb blast cases.
"Col Purohit gets Bail. It was expected as the present BJP Govt is protecting all the accused connected with RSS in all Bomb Blast cases," Singh tweeted.
Lieutenant Colonel Purohit's bail plea was earlier rejected by the Bombay High Court saying the charges against him were of a grave nature, after which he moved to the top court.
Purohit, a former military intelligence officer, is one of the accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts, along with Sadhvi Pragya and others.
Sadhvi Pragya had been granted relief in the case by the Bombay High Court. The NIA had filed its reply in the case, saying that there was ample evidence against Purohit, but not against her.
The 2008 Malegaon serial blasts claimed four lives and left nearly 79 injured.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)