Lt Col Purohit released from Taloja jail after 9 years

Having spent around nine years in prison, Lt Col Shrikant Prasad Purohit today walked out of the Taloja jail in neighbouring Navi Mumbai after being granted bail by the Supreme Court in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

After coming out of the prison at around 10.45 am, he was taken in a car. A team of Military Police and Quick Response Team of the Army escorted Purohit to a military station at Colaba south Mumbai.

Purohit was in jail for his alleged role in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, in which the apex court granted him bail on Monday.

A bench of Justices R K Agrawal and A M Sapre had said that they were setting aside the April 25 order of Bombay High Court by which the bail was denied.

Six people were killed in a bomb blast on September 29, 2008 at Malegaon, a communally sensitive textile town in Nashik district of north Maharashtra.

Purohit was yesterday produced before the special NIA court here which is hearing the accused on framing of charges in the Malegaon blast case.

In the afternoon, Purohit's lawyers in Delhi approached the Supreme Court, seeking modification of bail conditions.

Purohit's lawyers then initiated the procedure for getting a release order, which the special NIA court issued in the evening.