A Magistrate's Court premises in Nashik on Monday turned into a virtual saffron camp as it was thronged by activists of Shiv Sena and BJP who shouted slogans in support of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur and others accused in the Malegaon blast case.

Security personnel in strength were deployed as the ATS produced the eight arrested persons in the court for extension of their judicial custody.

As the blue Police van carrying Sadhvi and others neared the court, entire police arrangement went haywire. Hundreds of Shiv Sena and BJP workers surrounded the van and raised slogans in support of the accused.

Throughout the hearing, the Hindi and Marthi slogans -"Pragya Thakur tum age badho hum tumhare saath hain (Pragya Thakur you march ahead, we are with you)" — kept reverberating in the court.

"She has been wrongly accused in the blast case to defame the Hindus. Sadhvi symbolises Hindu women and her arrest is an attack on our mothers and sisters," said a shiv sainik protester.

With a large team of electronic media present there, the activists become more agitated as the cameras were focused on them.