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Malegaon Blast Victim's Father Moves Court To Ban Sadhvi Pragya From Contesting Lok Sabha Polls

Sadhvi Pragya is a prime accused in 2008 Malegaon blast case and is out on bail. On Wednesday she was declared as BJP' candidate for Lok Sabha elections from Bhopal, against Congress' Digvijaya Singh

A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party fielded Sadhvi Pragya, prime accused in the Malegaon blast case, from Bhopal to contest Lok Sabha elections, the father of one of the victims of the 2008 blast moved the special NIA court in Mumbai on Thursday, urging it to prevent her from contesting the polls.

The application was filed by Nisar Sayeed, who lost his son in the blast.

On Wednesday, the BJP fielded Pragya against Congress veteran Digvijaya Singh from Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency.

Special National Investigation Agency cases judge V S Padalkar sought replies from both the NIA and Sadhvi Thakur and posted the matter for Monday.

The applicant sought that Sadhvi, who is out on bail, be asked to attend court proceedings in Mumbai and be barred from contesting the election as the trial is in progress.

It further mentioned that Sadhvi got bail on health grounds. If she was "healthy enough to fight elections in the crippling summer heat", then she has misled the court, the complainant alleged.

A petition seeking cancellation of her bail was pending before the Supreme Court, it said.

Six people were killed and over a hundred injured in a bomb blast at Malegaon, a communally-sensitive textile town in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008.

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested Sadhvi Pragya and others in the case, alleging that they were part of a Hindu extremist group which carried out the blast.

The NIA later gave Sadhvi a clean chit, but the court did not discharge her.

It dropped charges against her under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, but Sadvi is still facing trial under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Indian Penal Code sections.

PTI

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