The National Investigation Agency (NIA) special court in Mumbai acquitted former Bharatiya Janata Party MP Pragya Thakur and six other accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case on Thursday, citing lack of evidence against them.
The special court noted "terrorism has no religion" but added that the accused cannot be convicted on "moral grounds". Pronouncing the verdict, Special Judge A.K. Lahoti said the probe agency failed to prove beyond doubt the charges registered against the accused under UAPA and IPC.
The special NIA court is pronouncing the verdict almost 17 years after the blast. Initially probed by the Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra police, the NIA took over the probe in the case in 2011. The special court commenced hearing the matter in 2018, and the case was reserved for judgment in April 2019.
Six persons were killed and over 100 suffered injuries in the blast in the communally sensitive Malegaon town, located 200km from Mumbai, on September 29, 2008. A motorcycle strapped with explosives was blown up near a mosque in the communally sensitive town during the month of Ramadan. According to NIA, the blast, planned before the Navratri festival that year, was carried out to create fear in the minds of a section of the Muslim community.
The motorcycle was the key evidence that linked the former BJP MP Thakur to the case. The bench noted the probe agency failed to recover the chassis number of the motorcycle, and they also failed to prove the vehicle belonged to her. "Moreover, Thakur had become a sanyasi and had left all material things two years before the blast," the bench noted while pronouncing the verdict.
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The court also noted that the probe agency failed to prove conspiracy charges against the accused. On charges against Lt Col Purohit, NIA failed to prove that the RDX used for the explosion was sourced from Kashmir or he assembled it.
The seven accused, including BJP leader and former MP Pragya Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, faced trial in the case for charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code. Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni are the other accused in the case.
According to PTI, the charges against the accused comprised UAPA sections 16 (committing terrorist act) and 18 (conspiring to commit terrorist act) and various IPC sections, including 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 153 (a) (promoting enmity between two religious groups).
