In a landmark judgment, a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai on Thursday acquitted all seven accused, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. The court held that the prosecution had failed to present sufficient and credible evidence to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Special Judge AK Lahoti stated that the evidence presented by the prosecution was inconsistent and lacked coherence. “Terrorism has no religion, but conviction cannot be based on moral grounds,” the judge emphasized in the ruling.
The case stemmed from a blast on September 29, 2008, in Malegaon, Maharashtra, where an improvised explosive device (IED) placed on a motorcycle exploded in a Muslim-majority locality during the holy month of Ramzan. The explosion killed six and injured over 100 people.
The court ruled that the prosecution could not conclusively prove that the motorcycle used in the blast belonged to Sadhvi Pragya, as the vehicle’s chassis number was only partially recovered. Moreover, the court noted she had renounced material possessions after becoming a sanyasi two years before the incident.
In Lt. Col. Purohit’s case, the court found no credible evidence to support the claim that he had sourced RDX from Kashmir or participated in bomb-making. Though there were financial transactions between Purohit and another accused, Ajay Rahirkar, the funds were used for personal expenses such as home construction and insurance policies, not terrorism-related activities.
The court also rejected the prosecution’s theory of a conspiracy among the seven accused. While it acknowledged that six people had died in the blast, it accepted that only 95 were injured—discounting a few manipulated medical certificates submitted during the trial.
The case was initially investigated by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which arrested 12 individuals and alleged that the blast was orchestrated by the group Abhinav Bharat. In 2010, the investigation was handed over to the NIA, which filed a supplementary chargesheet in 2016 and suggested dropping MCOCA charges and certain accused due to lack of evidence.
Despite this, the court in December 2017 ruled that seven accused—Thakur, Purohit, Ramesh Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, and Sudhakar Dwivedi—would face trial under the IPC, UAPA, and Explosive Substances Act. The trial officially began in December 2018.
Over the course of the trial, the prosecution examined 323 witnesses, though 34 turned hostile, and more than 30 witnesses died before they could testify. One of the accused, Sudhakar Dwivedi, even questioned whether a blast had occurred at all, prompting the court to examine over 100 victims and injured individuals.
Final arguments concluded in April 2024, and the verdict was reserved for April 19. In its final ruling, the court also directed compensation for victims—₹2 lakh each for the families of the deceased and ₹50,000 each for the injured.
Legal Representation:
- NIA: Special Public Prosecutor Avinash Rasal
- Pragya Thakur & Ajay Rahirkar: Advocate JP Mishra
- Ramesh Upadhyay: Advocates Pasbola, Divya Singh, Mrunal Bhide, Swaraj Sable, Pranav Gole
- Lt. Col. Purohit: Advocates Phadke, Babar
- Sudhakar Dwivedi: Advocates Ranjeet Sangle, Chaitnya Kulkarni
- Sudhakar Chaturvedi: Advocates Punalekar, Salsingikar, Sachin Kanse, Ashish Kanojiya, Nair
The judgment concludes a politically and socially sensitive case that had drawn nationwide attention for nearly two decades.
