Seventeen years after a powerful blast hit Malegaon in Maharashtra, killing six and leaving over a hundred injured, a special NIA court in Mumbai pronounced its 2008 Malegaon blast case verdict today. A special court in Mumbai, headed by NIA judge A K Lahoti, has acquitted all seven accused in the Malegaon blast case.
The explosion that took place on the night of September 29, 2008, near Bhikku Chowk in Malegaon, was a low-intensity bomb fitted to a motorcycle that went off near a busy intersection, triggering panic and chaos in the communally sensitive town.
The case saw a dramatic turn when the probe led to the arrest of individuals linked to Hindu right-wing groups. The Hindu extremists had conducted the act in the holy month of Muslim to trigger the debate, and this became the turning point. The case was transferred to NIA for further investigation, and since then, the trials have been taking place. Almost two decades later, the judgment was delivered today. Here are key points from the Malegaon blast case verdict.
- The court has come to the conclusion that the injured people were not 101 but 95 only, and there was manipulation in some medical certificates, said the NIA court.
- “There has been a grave incident against society. But the court cannot convict just on moral grounds,” the judge said.
- Former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Purohit, retired Major Ramesh Upadhayay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sameer Kulkarni, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi are the seven accused in the Malegaon blast case.
- The accused had been charged with 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).
- Special Judge AK Lahoti said mere suspicion cannot take the case forward and asserted that the prosecution failed to establish the allegations against the accused beyond reasonable doubt.
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