NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will not challenge the conditional bail granted to Naba Kumar Sarkar alias Swami Aseemanand by the Punjab and Haryana high court last year in the Samjhauta blasts case. The Union home ministry on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that the NIA , upon examining the feasibility of filing a special leave petition, found no grounds to challenge the order in the Supreme Court .

The NIA's decision is bound to be questioned not only at home, with the Opposition likely to charge the government with going soft on terror cases involving right-wing outfits, but also across the border in Pakistan. Of the 68 killed in the February 2007 explosions, 42 were Pakistani citizens.

Only recently, special public prosecutor in 2008 Malegaon blasts case Rohini Salian had alleged that she was eased out of her job following her claims that NIA was pressuring her to go soft on the accused, including Sadhvi Pragya and Col Srikant Purohit. The charge were refuted by NIA.

Meanwhile, Islamabad too has been pressing India to ensure proper and speedy trial in the case. With the NIA now letting Aseemanand's bail go unchallenged, Pakistan is likely to bring up the issue at the NSA-level talks proposed later this month.

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According to a written reply by minister of state for home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had granted conditional bail to Swami Aseemamand on August 28 last year. However, a certified copy of the order was issued by the court only on May 1 this year. Incidentally, legal experts find this eight-month delay rather unusual. As per the standard practice followed by Supreme Court, a certified copy of a bail order is dispatched to the jail authorities the day it is pronounced.

"NIA examined the feasibility of filing an SLP and decided that there were no grounds to challenge the order in the Supreme Court. However, Naba Kumar Sarkar @ Swami Aseemanand continues to be in jail since he did not comply with the conditions of bail specified in order dated 28.08.2014".

READ ALSO: Pak summons Indian envoy, raises Samjhauta blast issue

Aseemanand, it seems, has not bothered to furnish the bail bond or sureties as this will not bring him freedom anyway. He must remain in jail as he is accused in two other cases, the Ajmer Dargah and Mecca Masjid blasts. Also, he fears for his life outside and finds jail a more secure option.

MoS Chaudhary, in a related query, also conceded that the government did not find it fit to challenge the March 2014 order granting bail to two 2007 Mecca Masjid blasts accused Devender Gupta and Lokesh Sharma . They were granted bail on the grounds of parity since the bail granted to Bharat Mohan Lal alias Bharat Bhai and Tejaram Parmar in 2012 and 2013 was challenged by the prosecution.

READ ALSO: Aseemanand, Samjhauta blast accused, gets bail

"However, both the accused continue to be in jail as they are also accused in other cases wherein they have been denied bail," said Chaudhary.

Incidentally, Aseemanand's bail case was argued by top lawyer and BJP member Satya Pal Jain. A former Lok Sabha MP, Jain is currently a member of the BJP national executive and chairman of the party's national committee on legal affairs. He is additional solicitor general at the Punjab and Haryana high court.

