New Delhi : In Malegaon blast case of Maharashtra, a court acquitted all seven accused, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, on Thursday.
Special Judge AK Lahoti said mere suspicion cannot take the case forward and asserted that the prosecution failed to establish the allegations against the accused beyond reasonable doubt. Six people were killed and more than 100 injured when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle (LML Freedom bike) went off in Malegaon, a town with a sizeable Muslim population, on September 29, 2008. The blast took place during the holy month of Ramzan.
The case was initially probed by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) before being transferred to the NIA in 2011. The investigation was initially led by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), headed at the time by Hemant Karkare, who would later be killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
The ATS made its first arrests in October 2008. The motorcycle allegedly used in the blast was traced to Pragya Thakur. Authorities claimed she had lent it to the conspirators. They alleged she was part of a group which included former military personnel and members of a little-known radical group called Abhinav Bharat.
Pronouncing its verdict today, the court said that the prosecution successfully proved that the blast did take place, but the National Investigation Agency (NIA) failed to establish that the bomb was fitted in the motorcycle.
The court said that although there are allegations that RDX was used to cause the explosion, there is no evidence that the RDX was stored at Lt Col Purohit’s residence, and neither is there any proof that he assembled the bomb.
The Seven Accused
Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, former BJP MP from Bhopal
Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, then serving officer in Military Intelligence
Major (Retd) Ramesh Upadhyay
Ajay Rahirkar
Sudhakar Dwivedi
Sudhakar Chaturvedi
Sameer Kulkarni