Fadnavis praises acquittal of Malegaon blast accused as victims plan to challenge verdict

A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai acquitted all seven accused, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, retired Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni on Thursday, stating that there was “no reliable evidence” to connect them to the Malegaon blast which took place on September 29, 2008.

“Mere suspicion cannot take the place of real proof,” Special Judge A K Lahoti said, adding that “in the absence of any evidence, the accused persons deserve the benefit of doubt”.

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After examining 323 prosecution witnesses and eight defence witnesses, the court delivered its judgment acquitting the accused of all charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Arms Act, and all other relevant laws. The court mentioned in its verdict that the prosecution could not prove that RDX was stored or assembled at retired Lt Colonel Purohit’s residence or placed in the motorcycle which allegedly belonged to former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur. Neither was there any cogent or reliable evidence that the motorcycle belonged to Pragya Singh Thakur or that she was connected to it in any way, the court verdict stated.

The special court verdict also criticised the initial probe by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) and directed an inquiry against it for alleged fabrication of medical certificates and planting of evidence. It also pulled up the ATS for serious procedural lapses and misconduct during the early phase of the investigation.

On September 29, 2008, an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon town which killed six and injured 101 others.

Welcoming the Special NIA court’s 2008 Malegaon blast verdict, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis tweeted on X: “Terrorism was never saffron, is not and will never be”.

However, Advocate Shahid Nadeem, representing the victim families of the 2008 Malegaon blast, said here on Thursday that he would challenge the acquittal of the seven Malegaon blast accused in the Bombay High Court soon. “We will file an appeal independently. It is sad that we were waiting for the judgment for 17 years. The victims came from Malegaon to show their wounds, but the court gave the benefit of the doubt because the investigating agencies and the government failed. The victims have no role in this,” Advocate Shahid Nadeem said.

After the verdict, former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur said, “I said this from the very beginning that those who are called for investigation, there should be a basis behind that. I was called by them for investigation and was arrested and tortured. This ruined my whole life. I was living a sage’s life, but I was made an accused, and no one was willing to stand with us. I am alive because I am a sanyasi. They defamed Bhagwa (saffron) through a conspiracy. Today, Bhagwa has won, and Hindutva has won, and God will punish those who are guilty”.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit thanked the court for restoring the faith of the common man in the system. “I thank you for giving me a chance to serve my nation and my organisation with the same conviction that I was doing before I was framed in this matter,” he added.

Reacting to the verdict, the Kul Jamat-e-Tanzeem organisation, which helped the families of the 2008 Malegaon blast victims, expressed displeasure with the acquittal of the accused. “After the bomb blasts in Malegaon, the then Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare conducted a proper investigation and the case against these accused was established. He provided all the evidence against them. We were happy as the investigation was moving in the right direction. But the court gave a verdict that has left us shocked,” Firoz Ahmed Azmi of Tanzeem said.

“People who died in the blast did not get justice. If the accused were not responsible for the Malegaon blast, then who were involved? Agencies should approach the Supreme Court against this verdict to nab the culprits,” Azmi said.

Former special public prosecutor of the Malegaon blast case Rohini Salian, who had alleged in 2015 that the government had got National Investigation Agency (NIA) Mumbai branch SP Suhas Warke to pressure her to “go soft” on the accused, said she had expected the acquittal verdict. “It was known that this would happen. What else is expected if you don’t lay out the real evidence? I was not the prosecutor who presented the evidence to the court finally. I was out since 2017, and before that, I had presented plenty of evidence and the Supreme Court had upheld it. Where did it all vanish,” said Rohini Salian.

“I expected this verdict. If you lay out different evidence than what was first recorded, then anything can happen. According to the NIA, the earlier evidence was false. So, they reinvestigated the case, re-recorded the witnesses’ statements, which were contrary to the 164 recorded earlier by the Mumbai ATS. The new evidence was what was presented to the court by the NIA and the verdict was based on that,” she added.

Reacting to the verdict, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant said investigation agencies failed to gather evidence and nail the culprits. “The remarks by the court that there is no evidence is a serious matter. If there was no evidence against Sadhvi Pradnya and others, then why did they suffer all these years? It was injustice done to them. But since the incident took place and people died, somebody must be involved in it. Who are they? Why can’t our investigation agencies catch them?” he added.

Maharashtra Congress chief Harshvardhan Sapkal said. “Did the blast take place? Yes. Were people killed? Yes. Then who carried out the blast? The late IPS official Hemant Karkare, a man of high calibre and efficiency who was martyred in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, had investigated the case on the basis of clues found at that time. What happened to those clues?”

Meanwhile, former All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) MP from Aurangabad (now called Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) Imtiaz Jaleel reacted to the verdict of the Malegaon blast case, saying, “Who fabricated the false evidence in the Malegaon case and the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case? What action will be taken against these officials? The court should ensure that action is taken against them as well”.

Asked about his reaction to the verdict, Sharad Pawar-led NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad said, “I have no right to speak for or against whatever verdict the court has given in the Malegaon case. The question of where 65 kg of RDX used in the Malegaon bomb blasts remains unanswered. The verdict in the Malegaon case was given on the same day Hemant Karkare was murdered”.