Bhopal, Jan 10 (PTI): Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, one of the prime accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast and the Sunil Joshi murder case, has been diagnosed with breast cancer, according to a report from the Jawaharlal Nehru Cancer Hospital here.

A mammography test on her confirmed the ailment yesterday, doctors attending on her said.

Doctors at the hospital have advised her to get admitted for further treatment, which she has refused.
However, Pragya, who reportedly held discussions with doctors at the hospital yesterday, said she would get admitted only after performing some 'rituals'.

Superintendent of Bhopal Central Jail M R Patel, where Pragya has been lodged, said the authorities cannot hospitalise her without her consent.

Pragya was brought from Mumbai to Bhopal last year for murder trial of former RSS worker Sunil Joshi.

Joshi had been killed in Dewas on December 29, 2007, following which a case was registered against Pragya and others by Madhya Pradesh police. The investigation into the case was later taken over by National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Pragya is one of the prime accused in the Malegaon blasts case of September 29, 2008, in which six persons were killed and 100 others injured.

On January 19, 2009, Maharashtra police filed a charge sheet for the Malegaon blast. According to the charge sheet, Lt Col Prasad Purohit was the main conspirator who provided the explosives and Pragya arranged for the persons who planted the explosives.