Hindu monk Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, a suspected militant, was arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) after a bomb blast rocked Malegaon in the Nashik district of Maharashtra on Sep. 29, 2008.

She was detained on Oct. 23, 2008. In her bail application Thakur had alleged that prior to her arrest she was illegally detained for 13 days and that police had abused and molested her.

However, Justice HC Dharmadhakari rejected all her allegations and dismissed her bail plea.

The court said there were discrepancies in her account.

It was alleged that Thakur owned the motorcycle used in the attack, which had explosives attached to it.

The Hindu militant outfit Abhinav Bharat had triggered the blasts, in which six Muslims died.

Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray came out in defense of Thakur after her arrest, alleging that ATS officials had tried to molest her and also planned to eliminate her.

“The ATS officers have humiliated her penance and mixed meat and eggs in Sadhvi food. It is a planned political conspiracy to eliminate the accused in prison to please the Muslim community,” he said.

“Some politicians have already maligned the image of Sadhvi by terming the Malegaon bomb blast as an act of terrorism by some Hindu radical outfits and that the ATS was investigating the case under political pressure,” he added.

“The ATS would ‘fix’ the Hindus in their own country. Irrespective of the court verdict regarding the Malegaon blasts, the Hindus, despite being denied a fair trial, will continue to believe that some day they will receive justice and the wrongs done to them would be set right.”