NEW DELHI, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- India's Supreme Court Monday granted bail to a senior Indian Army officer, who was arrested more than nine years back in connection with a bomb blast in the western state of Maharashtra that killed seven people, mostly Muslims.
Lieutanant Colonel Srikant Purohit was, in fact, the first serving Indian Army officer to be arrested in connection with the 2008 bomb blast in the predominantly Muslim town of Malegaon in Maharashtra that also injured over 100 people.
"The Army officer was granted bail this morning. After completing the formalities, he will be released by jail authorities," said a police official.
Purohit has been in jail since his arrest by anti-terror police in 2009, along with 10 other co-accused in the case, including a female Hindu priest. Police then claimed that the accused had links with a little-known pro-Hindu group, Abhinav Bharat, and conspired to attack Muslims.
"It is a big relief," the Army officer's wife Aparna told the media after the bail.
Purohit had moved the Supreme Court after the High Court in Mumbai earlier this year rejected his bail application though it granted bail to the female Hindu priest. Earlier, a lower court had also turned down his bail plea.
Last year, the Army officer had written to then Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar, claiming he had been falsely implicated in the case. "I have been robbed of honour, dignity and rank and punished for serving the nation," the letter read.
The Malegaon blast case had shocked many Indians, including the Indian Army, which was concerned that one of its officers had been implicated in the attack.
