‘Suspicion not enough,’ seven accused including Pragya Thakur acquitted in Malegaon blast case

MUMBAI: A special court in Mumbai acquitted all the seven accused in the Malegaon blast case. The special NIA court in Mumbai acquitted the accused as the prosecution could not prove conspiracy. The court also said UAPA Act cannot be imposed against the accused. The verdict in the case was delivered after 17 years.

The blast occurred on the night of September 29 2008, near Bhikku Chowk in the communally tense town, located about 200 km from Mumbai, during the holy month of Ramzan. There were eight accused in the initial phase of the case. It was later reduced to seven. Former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, former military intelligence officer Lt Col Prasad Purohit, Retd Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahikar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni are the acquitted. Six people died in the blast and more than a hundred were injured.

The explosives stored in a bike near a busy market exploded. The NIA found that the blast was planned and carried out in Malegaon during the month of Ramzan with the aim of creating communal tension. The case, which was investigated by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), was taken over by the NIA in 2011. Out of 323 witnesses, 37 had turned hostile.