Right wing group Sanatan Sanstha member gets bail in 2008 Thane blasts case

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court today granted bail to Hindu right wing group Sanatan Sanstha member Vikram Bhave, convicted for his alleged involvement in the blasts at theatres and auditoriums in Thane district in 2008.

A division bench of Justices P V Hardas and Mridula Bhatkar granted bail to Bhave on a surety of Rs 20,000, observing that the appeal against his conviction is not likely to be heard soon.

The court had last week granted bail to co-accused Ramesh Gadkari too.

In August 2011, the trial court had convicted Bhave and Gadkari under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Explosives Act. The stringent provisions of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act were dropped by the court.

The duo was sentenced to ten years' of imprisonment. Bhave's advocate Sanjiv Punalekar today argued that Bhave had spent nearly five years in jail since his arrest in 2008.

In 2008, blasts ripped through Vishnudas Bhave auditorium in Vashi on May 31 and in a parking lot in Thane's Gadkari Rangayatan on June 4. Before that on February 20, a bomb was recovered at Cineraj Theatre in Panvel which was screening 'Jodha Akbar'.

In June 2008, ATS arrested six persons alleged to be members of Sanatan Sanstha. While Gadkari and Bhave were convicted, the remaining four were acquitted by the trial court.