A Mumbai court on Thursday acquitted all seven accused, including Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit and former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur in the Malegaon blast case of 2008, which claimed six lives and left scores injured.
Special Judge AK Lahoti extended the benefit of doubt to all the accused on the grounds that the prosecution failed to bring any ‘cogent’ evidence. Whatever evidence was placed on record, was riddled with inconsistencies, it noted.
The Special NIA Court said that terrorism did not have any religion, however, conviction could not be based on moral grounds.
It held that since the serial number of the bike on which the bomb was allegedly strapped could not be completely recovered by the forensic experts, the prosecution failed to prove that the two-wheeler belonged to Sadhvi Pragya Thakur.
The court further took into consideration the fact that Thakur had become a sanyasi and left all material things two years before the blast.
Regarding charges against Lt Col Purohit, the judge said there was no evidence to prove that he sourced RDX from Kashmir or that he assembled the bomb.
While acknowledging the financial transactions between Purohit and another accused Ajay Rahirkar as officials of Abhinav Bharat, the Special NIA court said the money was used by Purohit for the construction of his house and LIC policy, not for any terrorist activity.
It further rejected the prosecution’s claim that there was a conspiracy between the seven accused.
Agreeing to the fact that six persons were killed in the blast, the judge refused to accept the prosecution’s argument that 101 persons were injured on the grounds that some of the medical certificates submitted to the court were manipulated. It accepted injury claims of only 95 people.
The court further pointed out the defects in the prosecution’s evidence owing to the police failure to secure the spot.
It also granted compensation to the victims and their families. While the family members of the deceased victims were entitled to a compensation of Rs two lakh, those injured were eligible for of compensation of Rs 50,000 each.
Special Judge AK Lahoti, who was specifically assigned to hear the case, delivered the verdict almost 17 years of the incident.
On September 29, 2008, an explosive device placed on a motorbike went off near a mosque at Malegaon, killing six people and injuring more than 95 people.
The case was initially probed by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and transferred to the National Investigation Agency in 2011.
NIA framed charges against Thakur, Col Purohit and other accused under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) in October 2018.
The prosecution, after producing and examining over 323 witnesses, apprised the court that it had completed the recording of evidence of the accused on September 14, 2023.