A special court in Mumbai on 26 September rejected the bail plea of Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, who is an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case.
Purohit has been accused of forming Abhinav Bharat - a pro-Hindu group - and conspiring in the blasts, which killed seven people and injured 101.
Earlier, while filing for bail, Purohit had claimed that Abhinav Bharat was formed after keeping senior army officers in the loop and that he was assigned by military intelligence to infiltrate various terror organisations and that his superiors knew about his actions and associations with Abhinav Bharat.
The charge sheet filed by the NIA this year had said that Purohit flouted the service rules by forming the outfit in 2006, despite being an army man. The investigating agency said Purohit and the other accused collected funds for the outfit, which were then used to buy weapons.
In his bail plea, Purohit had reportedly said that he was acting in discharge of his duty to gather more intelligence.
"The circumstances show Abhinav Bharat was to become a political party and even a registration form for the same was found through the sources of the accused," reads the bail plea.
Earlier, in September last year, advocate Shrikant Shivde representing Purohit had approached the court seeking in-camera proceedings during the bail application filed by him. He had contended that there was fear of proceedings being 'misrepresented' or 'quoted out of context'. The NIA did not object to the application.
The state ATS had charge sheeted 12 alleged 'Hindu extremists', including Lt. Col. Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, in the case.
-With ANI inputs