Mumbai, September 26

The Bombay High Court today granted bail to Army Major Ramesh Upadhyay (retd), an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, on the ground of parity.Since the other prime accused in the case have been granted bail by the high court and the apex court, a Bench of justices Ranjit More and Sadhna Jadhav granted Upadhyay bail against a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and two sureties each of the same amount. While National Investigating Agency (NIA) counsel Sandesh Patil opposed the bail plea, the Bench said its hands were tied in view of the apex court’s directions on the grounds of parity.The court also asked if Upadhyay’s role in the blast was larger than that of prime accused Lt Col Shrikant Purohit, who was granted bail by the apex court in August. Upadhyay’s counsel denied it and told the court about Purohit having been granted bail. He also told the court that on September 19, a trial court had granted bail to two other accused in the case — Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi — on grounds of parity.“Upadhyay played a role in hatching the conspiracy for the blasts. He attended several meetings of the Abhinav Bharat group and we have video recordings to prove his presence in some of such meetings,” Patil said. “However, while the high court recorded our opposition to the bail plea, it took cognisance of the fact that several other accused were already out on bail,” he said.Last November, the trial court had denied bail to Upadhyay following which he had filed an appeal in the high court challenging the order. — PTI