Eighty-year-old ailing Pakistani microbiologist Mohammed Khaleel Chishty, serving life term in an Ajmer jail in Rajasthan in a murder case of 1992, was today granted bail by the Supreme Court.

A bench of justices P Sathasivam and J Chelameswar granted him the reprieve, considering his old age and the fact that he has been held up in India for the last 20 years after a murder case was lodged against him when he came on a visit to Ajmer.

The court also agreed to hear Chishty's plea to allow him to go back to Karachi and asked him to file a separate application for it. The bench, however, asked Chishty not to leave Ajmer till further orders.

The bench said while passing the order,that theay are satisfied that a case is made out for enlargement on bail. Chishty was granted bail a day after his case was discussed between the authorities of the two countries during Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari visit to India.

During a visit to Ajmer in 1992 to meet his ailing mother, Chishty had got embroiled in a dispute and, in the brawl, one of his neighbours was shot dead, while Chishty's nephew got injured.