In a major development in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, a special NIA court in Mumbai acquitted all seven accused on Wednesday, granting them the benefit of the doubt due to lack of conclusive evidence.
The court rejected the prosecution's claim that Lt Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit planted the bomb on a motorcycle allegedly owned by Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur. The judge noted that the prosecution failed to establish who created or supplied the explosive device, or even who planted it.
Special Judge A.K. Lahoti said the explosive might not have been fitted inside the vehicle, but could have been placed on or near it. Moreover, the chassis number of the motorcycle was not recovered, and ownership by Sadhvi Pragya could not be conclusively proved.
The court further found no evidence linking the right-wing group Abhinav Bharat to the incident, stating that the case was largely built on allegations without concrete proof.
One of the most serious concerns raised during the judgment was the alleged planting of explosives at the residence of one of the accused, Sudhakar Chaturvedi. The court directed the Additional Director General (ADG) of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) to investigate this claim.
Criticising the quality of the investigation, the court pointed out several flaws, including the improper preparation of the panchnama, the failure to collect fingerprints from the blast site, and mishandling of forensic evidence, which led to contamination.
The seven accused who faced trial were:
<ul data-start="1611" data-end="1809">
<li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;" data-start="1611" data-end="1670">
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur (currently BJP MP from Bhopal)
</li>
<li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;" data-start="1671" data-end="1703">
Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit
</li>
<li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;" data-start="1704" data-end="1734">
Major (Retd) Ramesh Upadhyay
</li>
<li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;" data-start="1735" data-end="1750">
Ajay Rahirkar
</li>
<li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;" data-start="1751" data-end="1769">
Sudhakar Dwivedi
</li>
<li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;" data-start="1770" data-end="1791">
Sudhakar Chaturvedi
</li>
<li style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;" data-start="1792" data-end="1809">
Sameer Kulkarni
</li>
</ul>
The blast occurred on September 29, 2008, during Ramzan near a mosque in Malegaon, Maharashtra. The explosion killed six people and injured over 100. In the immediate aftermath, violence broke out as locals clashed with police, further complicating the investigation.
The court also directed the Maharashtra government to compensate the victims, awarding ₹2 lakh to the families of those killed and ₹50,000 to each of the injured.
Advocate Shahid Nadeem, representing one of the victims, said the judgment was not a &ldquo;clean acquittal&rdquo; and confirmed that an appeal would be filed.
Accused Major Upadhyay expressed anguish over his long ordeal. "I was tortured physically, destroyed mentally, ruined financially, and socially boycotted. I was evicted by my landlord and spent nine years in jail," he said.
The case saw 323 witnesses being examined, but 34 turned hostile, weakening the prosecution&rsquo;s narrative. Initially handled by the Maharashtra ATS, the investigation was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2011. In 2016, the NIA filed a supplementary charge sheet dropping charges under the UAPA against some accused, including Sadhvi Pragya, citing insufficient evidence.
All the accused were on bail during the trial. [Except for the headline, this article has not been edited by the Benefit News editorial team and is published directly from the IANS news feed]

All 7 Acquitted in 2008 Malegaon Blast Case

NIA court cites lack of evidence, slams probe; all accused get benefit of the doubt

Court Slams Probe, Frees Malegaon Accused

NIA court cites lack of evidence, slams probe; all accused get benefit of the doubt

July 31, 2025 | 14:40 IST