A NIA special court in Mumbai on Thursday (July 31) acquitted all seven accused, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, almost 17 years after a powerful blast rocked Maharashtra's communally sensitive Malegaon town, leaving six people killed and over 100 injured.
All seven accused, including Pragya Thakur and Lt Col Purohit, who faced trial in the case for offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code, were present in the court. Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, and Sameer Kulkarni were the other accused in the case.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which conducted the probe into the case, had sought "commensurate punishment" for the accused.
What did the court say?
While delivering the verdict, Special Judge AK Lahoti said:
- The prosecution failed to establish that the bomb was planted on the motorcycle.
- It's possible the explosive device was placed elsewhere.
- There is no concrete evidence that RDX was transported or brought from Kashmir.
- The investigation could not determine who parked the motorcycle or how it got there.
- During the investigation of the site, a key stone near the blast site was not seized, likely due to the chaos after the incident.
- Fingerprint samples were not collected at the scene.
- The gathered evidence might have been compromised or contaminated.
- Although the bike's chassis was not tampered with, it was also not properly restored for investigation.
- While Sadhvi Pragya is the registered owner of the motorcycle, there is no proof that it was under her possession at the time of the blast.
- The prosecution also could not prove that any conspiracy meetings took place.
- The approval granted to invoke the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in this case was found to be flawed.
- Witness statements were inconsistent and lacked clarity.
- The judge emphasized that no religion advocates terrorism.
- There is no evidence showing that Col. Purohit manufactured the bomb or that Sadhvi Pragya's bike was used in the Malegaon explosion.
- All accused are being acquitted by extending the benefit of the doubt due to insufficient and unreliable evidence.
Malegaon blast case
Six people were killed and more than 100 were injured when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in the town, located about 200 km from Mumbai, on September 29, 2008.
The blast took place during the holy month of Ramzan, just before the Navratri festival, the NIA pointed out, claiming the intention of the accused was to strike terror in a section of the Muslim community.
The case was initially probed by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) before being transferred to the NIA in 2011.
The trial in the case began in 2018 after the court framed charges against the seven accused.
The charges comprised UAPA sections 16 (committing terrorist act) and 18 (conspiring to commit terrorist act) and various IPC sections, including 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 153 (a) (promoting enmity between two religious groups).
During the trial, the prosecution presented 323 witnesses, of whom 37 turned hostile.
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