 "Malegaon bomb blast case verdict: Who are the 7 accused acquitted by special NIA court?")
A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Thursday (July 31) acquitted all seven accused, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. The explosion had killed six people and injured 101 others.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had arrested the accused nearly 17 years ago. They were on trial on various charges, including murder and criminal conspiracy under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and the anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
What is the case? Who were the accused? And why have they been acquitted? We will explain.
2008 Malegaon blast case
On the night of September 29, 2008, a bomb exploded near Bhikku Chowk in Malegaon, a town about 100 km northeast of Nashik in Maharashtra.
The deadly explosion took place in the holy month of Ramzan in a Muslim-dominated area. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) initially investigated the case, suspecting that the improvised explosive device (IED) was planted on an LML Freedom motorcycle.
In October 2008, the ATS arrested Pragya Singh Thakur alias Sadhwi Poornachetanand Giri, who it said owned the bike used in the blast.
It claimed her arrest led to the other accused. A total of 11 people were arrested by November 2008, with the ATS invoking stringent sections of the organised crime law, the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, 1999 (MCOCA), against them.
Who are the accused?
**Pragya Singh Thakur** , an activist of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) hailing from Madhya Pradesh, was accused number 1. Besides alleging that she owns the LML Freedom motorcycle, the ATS claimed she participated in conspiracy meetings, where she agreed to help the people who would execute the plan.
The ATS claimed Thakur was connected with another accused, Ramchandra Kalsangra alias Ramji, who it said was using the motorcycle at the time, and had planted the bomb. Thakur was also accused of introducing Ramji and the accused Sandeep Dange to the other co-accused in July 2008, reported Indian Express.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThakur maintained her innocence, saying she was not involved in the conspiracy. She also accused the ATS of illegally detaining and torturing her.
Thakur, who claimed she had cancer, was granted bail in April 2017 by the Bombay High Court. In 2019, she successfully contested the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket. She remains a member of the party.
Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit was accused by the ATS of founding the Abhinav Bharat organisation in 2006. The ATS alleged that funds were collected and the conspiracy was plotted through this group.
According to the ATS, Purohit allegedly participated in conspiracy meetings and delivered speeches on the necessity to execute the plan. It also alleged that he had held talks on having a separate constitution and a flag, and explored the idea of forming a government in exile in Israel or Thailand.
Purohit’s defence was that he took part in the meetings as a Military Intelligence officer to gather intelligence on extremism and create new sources. He also dismissed the ATS’ claim that he had procured RDX for the blast during his posting in Jammu & Kashmir. Purohit rejected the allegations through documents from the Ministry of Defence that showed he did not have access to explosives, as per the Indian Express report.
Ramesh Upadhyay, a retired Major of the Indian Army, was another accused arrested in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. The ATS claimed that Upadhyay and Purohit had discussed the need for a separate constitution for a “Hindu Rashtra” in a meeting in Faridabad in 2008.
As per the ATS, Upadhyay was the working president of the Abhinav Bharat organisation.
Calls between Purohit and Upadhyay were intercepted, which the retired Major claimed violated laws and his personal liberty. Upadhyay also accused the ATS of fabricating evidence and that witnesses had deposed about being forced into implicating him and others.
The ATS alleged Ajay Rahirkar, a Pune-based businessman, was the treasurer of Abhinav Bharat. He was accused of collecting funds for the organisation to procure weapons on the orders of the other accused, Prasad Purohit. Rahirkar also allegedly attended a “conspiracy” meeting.
Rahirkar claimed he was being framed and had no involvement in the blast.
Sudhakar Chaturvedi alias Chanakya was accused of working with Abhinav Bharat. He was a source for the Indian Army’s Military Intelligence officials. The ATS alleged that the bomb was assembled at Chaturvedi’s rented house in Deolali in Nashik. It claimed that traces of RDX were found during a search of his residence on November 25, 2008.
The ATS also cited a forensic report that showed that the explosive found at the blast site was similar to the samples recovered from Chaturvedi’s house.
Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi’s laptop had audio and video recordings of some of the conspiracy meetings involving the accused, the ATS claimed. In one such meeting in Bhopal in April 2008, the accused are alleged to have decided to take “revenge” against Muslims through a bomb blast at Malegaon, which has a large Muslim population, as per the Indian Express report.
Sameer Kulkarni, a social activist from Pune, was accused of having agreed with the other co-accused to form “Aryawrat” or Hindu Rashtra and had participated in talks on taking revenge on Muslims. He rejected the allegations and claimed he was illegally detained and arrested by the ATS officials. Kulkarni also claimed evidence tampering.
Ramji and Sandeep Dange were never arrested but were named as wanted accused.
NIA finds gaps in ATS investigation
The Malegaon case was transferred to the NIA in 2011. The accused went to the courts to challenge the invocation of MCOCA against them, under which their confessions were made.
The NIA continued its probe, filing a chargesheet on May 13, 2016. The central probe agency dropped charges against the accused under MCOCA, arguing that the manner in which it was invoked was “questionable”.
It said that the ATS probe was filled with “lacunae”. As per the NIA, the evidence was found only against seven of the 11 accused arrested, along with two wanted accused, Kalsangra and Dange.
The trial finally began in 2018. During the hearings, the prosecution presented 323 witnesses, of whom 37 turned hostile.
Why the 7 Malegaon accused have been acquitted
The special NIA court ruled today that there was “no reliable and cogent evidence” to convict the seven accused.
Special Judge AK Lahoti flagged many loopholes in the prosecution’s case and the investigation.
“Mere suspicion cannot take the place of real proof,” the court said, adding that in the lack of any evidence, the accused persons deserve the benefit of doubt.
“The overall evidence does not inspire confidence in the court to convict the accused. There is no reliable and cogent evidence to warrant conviction,” the judge said, as per PTI.
The court also ruled that provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) were not applicable.
It said that the prosecution’s claim that the motorbike used in the blast was registered in Thakur’s name was not established. It also said that it was not established that the blast was carried out by the bomb allegedly planted on the bike.
With inputs from agencies
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