Mumbai’s NIA Special Court on Thursday acquitted all the seven accused involved in the 2008 Malegaon 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 2-2 lakh to the families of the victims and Rs 50,000 to the injured.
A total of 7 people were accused including former MP Sadhvi Pragya, Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ajay Raheerkar, Sudhankar Dhar Dwivedi (Shankaracharya) and Sameer Kulkarni.
The NIA special court said, “All the bail bonds of the accused are canceled and the guards are freed.”
The court questioned 323 prosecution and 8 witnesses from the defense before pronounced the verdict. The seven people have been acquitted of illegal activities (prevention) Act, Arms Act and all other charges.
Judge Abhay Lohati said, “The prosecution proved that there was an explosion in Malegaon, but failed to prove that the bomb was placed in the motorcycle.”
The court also mentioned that some rigging was also done in medical certificates. The court said, “The court has reached the conclusion that the age of the injured was not 101, but 95 and some medical certificates were rigged.”
The court also said that there is no evidence of storage or combination of explosives in the residence of Prasad Purohit, who was another accused in the case.
The court said, “While doing the Panchnama, the investigating officer did not make any sketches of the scene. No fingerprints, dump data or anything were collected from the spot. The samples were contaminated, so the report could not be decisive and cannot be trusted.”
On the alleged role of Abhinav Bharat Sangathan, the court said that there is no evidence of the organization’s use of money in terrorist activities.
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 including former MP Sadhvi Pragya.
