Date:29/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/29/stories/2008102960111200.htm

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Passion for motorcycles proved her undoing

Bhind (Madhya Pradesh): Sadhvi Pragnya Singh Thakur’s passion for motorcycles in her college days proved costly. For, the vehicle used in the September 29 Malegaon bomb blasts, reportedly registered in her name, led to her arrest, official sources said on Tuesday.

The arrest of the resident of Lahar town in this district shocked people in the area who knew her as a girl with boyish looks. Her classmates recalled her as a straightforward activist who always stood for national and Hindutva issues, they said.

An active member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad since her college days, Sadhvi Pragya was known for her oratorical skills and raising issues related to Hindutva, apart from her passion for motorcycles, they added.

As an ABVP leader, she was popular for her speeches and she went on to become a known figure in the party circles even outside Bhind district.

After gaining popularity in Madhya Pradesh as a prominent ABVP activist, she left the student wing to become a sanyasin and she started delivering religious discourses.

The Sadhvi later settled in Surat, Gujarat, the sources said.

Her father, CP Singh Thakur, a doctor running a clinic in Lahar town, was an RSS office-bearer. Her family has property in Lahar, Superintendent of Police Abhay Singh said. — PTI