After holding that the Prosecution had failed to produce any “cogent evidence” against the accused, a Special NIA Court on Thursday acquitted all the seven accused - including BJP’s former MP Pragya Singh Thakur and ex-Military Intelligence official Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit (Retd) — in the much-discussed 2008 Malegaon blasts case.
Nearly 17 years after a massive explosion rocked the communally sensitive town of Malegaon in north Maharashtra, Special Judge AK Lahoti extended “benefit of doubt” to all the seven accused, including Sadhvi Pragya and Lt Col Purohit (Retd) and acquitted them on the ground that the Prosecution had failed to bring in “cogent evidence” against them.
Observing that “terrorism has no religion but conviction cannot be based on moral grounds”, the Judge noted, “Upon comprehensive evaluation, the prosecution has failed to bring any cogent evidence and the evidence (produced by the Prosecution) is riddled with inconsistencies”.
Apart from Sadhvi Pragya and Lt Col Purohit, the other accused who were acquitted in the case were: Sudhakar Dwivedi, Major (Retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Ajay Rahirkar.
The verdict in this politically crucial case — during the trial of which phrase “saffron terrorism” came to be coined by the Congress because of the alleged involvement of persons linked to the Hindu outfits, including Sadhvi Pragya and Lt Col Purohit (Retd) — has come as a resounding the slap in the face of Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the NIA which investigated the Malegaon blast different points of time.
It may be recalled that a powerful bomb — planted under the seat of a LML Freedom motor-bicycle had exploded between Bhikku Chowk and Anjuman Chowk, near Noorani Masjid at Malegaon in north Maharashtra exploded at around 9.35 pm on September 29, 2008, killing six persons and injuring 10 others. The explosion took place in the midst of Ramzan and in the run-up to Navaratri.
Giving a clean chit to Sadhvi Pragya, the Judge noted that the Prosecution had failed to prove that the bike, on which the bomb was allegedly strapped, belonged to her. “Serial number of the two-wheeler’s chassis was not completely recovered by the forensic experts and, therefore, the prosecution failed to prove that Thakur was the owner of the two-wheeler,” the judge said. In another significant observation that projected the key accused in a good light, the court observed that Sadhavi Pragya had become a sanyasi and had left all material things two years before the blast.
In the case of another accused Lt Col Prasad Purohit (Retd), the Judge noted that there was no evidence to prove that he sourced RDX from Kashmir or that he assembled the bomb.
The court also held that though there were financial transactions between Purohit and another accused Ajay Rahirkar as the functionaries of a Hindun outfit “Abhinav Bharat”, the money was used by Purohit only towards the construction of his house and LIC policy and not for any terrorist activity. The Judge also held that there was no evidence of conspiracy against other accused in the case.
While Special Public Prosecutor Avinash Rasal appeared for the NIA, Advocate JP Mishra appeared for Pragya Singh Thakur and Ajay Rahirkar. Advocates Phadke, Babar appeared for Lt Col Purohit.
Advocates Pasbola, Divya Singh, Mrunal Bhide, Swaraj Sable and Pranav Gole represented Ramesh Upadhyay. Advocates Ranjeet Sangle and Chaitnya Kulkarni appeared for Sudhakar Dwivedi. Advocates Punalekar, Salsingikar, Sachin Kanse, Ashish Kanojiya and Nair appeared for Sudhakar Chaturvedi.
All the seven accused were tried under Sections 16 (committing a terror act) and 18 (criminal conspiracy) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and Sections 120(b) (punishment of criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder) and 326 (intentionally causing harm to others) of the IPC. They were tried for charges under the Explosives Substances Act.
Maharashtra’s ATS, which investigated the case from the beginning, filed a 4,528-page main chargesheet in the 2008 Malegaon blast case in the MCOCA court on January 29, 2009. On April 21, 2011, the ATS filed a 305-page supplementary chargesheet against Abhinav Bharat functionary Pravin Mutalik, alleging that he was one of the key conspirators in the September 29, 2008 Malegaon blast case.
The NIA -- which took over the investigations in the case from Maharashtra ATS in mid-2011 ---- expanded the scope of its probe in the light of a confession made by Swami Aseemanand in the Hyderabad’s Mecca Masjid blast case under section 164 of the CrPC before a Magistrate on December 18, 2010.
After it took over the case, the NIA arrested three more accused. However, they were granted bail in the case by default as charge-sheet was not filed against them.
On October 30, 2018, a special court in Mumbai framed charges against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, Sameer Kulkarni and four other accused under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and various other sections of the IPC for their alleged involvement in the 2008 blasts.
Earlier on December 27, 2017, a Special NIA court had dropped charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) against Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Purohit and five other key accused in the much-discussed case.
In all, 323 witnesses deposed before the court during the trial. Of them, 34 were declared hostile.
The other accused in the case - Pravin Takalki, Shyamlal Sahu and Shivnarayan Kalsangra - were discharged from the case for lack of evidence.
Two others wanted in the case - Ramchandra Kalsangra who along with Sandeep Dange, both from Indore - for allegedly planting the bomb, died in police custody.
