In a major verdict, a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Thursday acquitted all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.
The seven accused included BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Major (Retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi (also known as Shankaracharya), and Sameer Kulkarni.
The court dropped all charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Arms Act, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC), citing lack of sufficient evidence.
The blast occurred on September 29, 2008, when a bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded near the Bhikku Chowk mosque in Malegaon, Nashik district, Maharashtra. The explosion took place during the holy month of Ramzan and just ahead of the Hindu festival of Navratri. It claimed six lives and injured over 100 people in the communally sensitive town.
The verdict, delivered after nearly 17 years of legal proceedings, came in a packed courtroom where all accused were present as per the court’s direction. The court also ordered compensation of ₹2 lakh to the families of each of the six deceased and ₹50,000 to each injured victim.
The trial involved a massive case file exceeding one lakh pages. Hearings concluded in April this year, and the court had reserved its judgment on April 19. Due to the scale and complexity of the case, the court took additional time to scrutinise the material thoroughly before pronouncing the verdict.
During the trial, the prosecution examined 323 witnesses. However, 34 of them turned hostile, significantly weakening the prosecution’s case.
The case was initially investigated by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which arrested the accused and filed the first charge sheet. In 2011, the probe was transferred to the NIA, which filed a supplementary charge sheet in 2016, dropping charges against several accused, including Sadhvi Pragya, citing insufficient evidence under stringent anti-terror laws.
All accused were out on bail during the trial. They had been facing serious charges including conspiracy, murder, and use of explosives under the UAPA and IPC.
— IANS
