A special NIA court in Mumbai on July 31 acquitted all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon terror blast case, bringing a dramatic end to a trial that spanned nearly 17 years. The blast, which took place on September 29, 2008, at Bhikku Chowk in Malegaon, Maharashtra, killed six people and injured more than 100.
Among the acquitted are BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Purohit, Major (Retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sameer Kulkarni, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi. All were accused of being part of a larger conspiracy to create a “Hindu Rashtra” through acts of terror.
Special Judge A.K. Lahoti, in his verdict, said, “Terror has no religion because no religion can advocate violence.” The court acknowledged that while a bomb had indeed exploded, the prosecution failed to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that the accused were responsible.
A key reason for the acquittal was the poor handling of forensic evidence. Fingerprints and DNA were not collected in time, and the material was found to be contaminated. The court also found that the Anti-Terrorism Squad’s (ATS) claim about the motorcycle used in the blast—allegedly linked to Pragya Thakur—could not be backed by credible proof.
In the case of Lt Col Purohit, the court ruled that there was no evidence he had procured RDX or assembled the bomb. The alleged link to the group Abhinav Bharat also remained unproven. Of the 323 witnesses called, 39 turned hostile and 30 died before testifying. Some claimed they had been tortured into giving false statements.
The trial has been mired in controversy, particularly after NIA prosecutor Rohini Salian quit in 2016, alleging political pressure to go easy on the accused. While suspicion remains, the court held that suspicion alone cannot lead to conviction.
In the end, the court granted all accused the benefit of doubt, closing one of India’s most politically sensitive terror trials.