Malegaon Blast Case: All seven accused including Sadhvi Pragya and Lt Col Shrikant Purohit acquitted; what did judge say while pronouncing verdict? What CM Devendra Fadnavis said?
The special NIA court has acquitted all seven accused in the Malegaon bomb blast case. Six people were killed and more than 100 were injured in the bomb blasts in Malegaon about 17 years ago.
BJP leader Sadhvi Pragya and Lieutenant Colonel Shrikant Purohit were the most talked about accused in this case. Sadhvi Pragya has been a BJP MP from Bhopal.
On 29 September 2008, explosives kept in motorcycles parked near a mosque in Malegaon, Maharashtra exploded.
During the trial, the government side questioned 323 witnesses, out of which 37 retracted their statements.
Later, the responsibility of investigating this case was handed over to the NIA.
A case was registered against Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, BJP leader Pragya Thakur, Major Ramesh Upadhyay (retired), Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Initially, the case was being investigated by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), but in 2011, the responsibility of investigating it was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
What did the judge say while delivering the verdict?
The judge said the prosecution could not produce credible and concrete evidence to prove its allegations. He said taking into account all the evidence, the court held that there were not enough legal grounds to convict the accused.
The court said the government could prove that the bomb had exploded, but could not prove that the bomb was planted on the motorcycle itself. It was claimed that Lieutenant Colonel Purohit had brought RDX from Kashmir, but no concrete evidence was found for this. It could also not be proved that Purohit had prepared the bomb at his home.
The judge said the area was closed at that time due to Ramzan, and it could not be clarified how the motorcycle reached there. The court said it was said that meetings were held to hatch the conspiracy in places like Indore, Ujjain and Nashik, but no credible evidence of such meetings could be produced in the court.
The court also found that the investigating officers had not taken permission to check phone records. In the Abhinav Bharat case, there was evidence of some financial transactions between Purohit, Rahirkar and Upadhyay, but it could not be proved that the money was used in terrorist activities. It was a serious crime, but the court needs solid and indisputable evidence to pronounce the verdict, the judge said.
What Fadnavis said?
After the court's decision in the Malegaon bomb blast case, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has reacted to it.
He wrote on the social media platform X, "Terrorism was never saffron, is not and will never be!"
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