All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday criticized the decision to acquit 7 accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case by the special NIA court of Mumbai, called the verdict as “disappointing” and asked if the Maharashtra government had challenged the decision like 2006.
He targeted the central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to “make an accused of terrorism a Member of Parliament” and demanded accountability for the “faulty investigation” of the agencies.
Owaisi wrote on X, “The decision of the Malegaon blast case is disappointing. Six Namaji was killed and about 100 injured in the explosion. He was targeted due to his religion. The intentional investigation/prosecution was acquitted.”
Owaisi’s post has a detailed mention of five points, in which he convicted the “substandard” investigation of the agencies, asked if the state government would appeal against the verdict, and, among other things, questioned former prosecutor Rohini Salian to take a “soft” stand towards the accused.
He said in the post, “17 years after the explosion, the court has acquitted all the accused due to lack of evidence. Will Modi and Fadnavis governments appeal against this decision, as they demanded a stay on the decision to acquit the accused in Mumbai train explosions? Will Maharashtra’s” secular “political parties demand accountability?
Former ATS chief Hemant Karkare, who led the investigation into the 2008 Malegaon blast, but talking about the 26/11 attacks, talking about the Pakistani terrorists shot and killed, Owaisi said, “Karkare had exposed the conspiracy in Malegaon and misfortune was killed by Pakistani terrorists in 26/11. He said that he had cursed Karkare and his death was the result of the same curse. “Will NIA/ATS officers be held accountable for his faulty investigation?” I think we know the answer. This is “strict on terrorism” Modi government. The world will remember that it made a terrorism accused as an MP. “
On Thursday, the court acquitted all the seven accused involved in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blasts. The court said that the prosecution failed to prove the case beyond suspicion. The NIA court has also ordered the Maharashtra government to pay compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the families of the victims and Rs 50,000 to the injured. The lawyer representing the affected families said that he would challenge the decision to acquit seven people in the High Court.
On 29 September 2008, six people were killed and 95 others were injured when an explosion in an explosive equipment tied on a motorcycle near a mosque in Bhikku Chowk in Malegaon city. Originally 11 people were accused in this case; However, the court eventually framed charges against 7 people.