Mumbai: The special NIA court on Thursday acquitted all the seven accused, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, from all the charges in connection with 2008 Malegaon blast case, observing that "strong suspicion cannot take place of legal proof."
All 7 Accused Acquitted After 17-Year Trial
After discharge of several accused, a total seven accused were put to trial. Apart from Thakur and Purohit, Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sudhakar Dwivedi alias Swami Amritunand Devtirth were accused of the blast.
For want of credible evidence all the accused were acquitted by special judge A.K. Lohati, 17 years after their arrest. All of them had obtain bail meanwhile. The defence stood rock solid behind Lt Col Purohit and maintained that whatever he did was a part of his duty as an intelligence officer. It only held his promotion on hold.
The case revealed a rift between the Union home ministry, which conducted the prosecution through the NIA, and the defence ministry which was convinced of its officer's innocence.
On September 29, 2008, a bomb planted on a motorcycle - LML Freedom, which was parked near Shakil Goods Transport Company, between Anjuman Chowk and Bhiku Chowk, went off at 21.35 hours, near a masjid in Malegaon, killing six persons and injuring around hundreds.
The prosecution had named ‘Hindu Terror’ group behind the blast and claimed that the accused had set up an organization called Abhinav Bharat which was used as a front to carry out illegal activities.
Besides, it was alleged that all the accused were members of the said organization and during various secret meetings the members had conspired to carry out the blast.
‘Suspicion Cannot Replace Proof,’ Says Court
The special court however, held that, “Upon comprehensive evaluation of entire evidence on record, there is no cogent, reliable and acceptable evidence. The testimony of prosecution witnesses is riddled with material inconsistencies and contradictions. Such discrepancies undermine the credibility of prosecution case. Though there was strong suspicion of the accused, but it cannot take place of legal proof.”
The special court has demolished the prosecution case from the identification of the bike, allegedly used to plant the blast to its connection with Thakur; from the use of RDX as a key material for the blast to the procurement of RDX; from preparations of bombs to the meetings that were alleged to have been held by the members of organization Abhinav Bharat.
According to the prosecution, the bike, which was used to plant the bomb belonged to Thakur and her key associate, Ramji Kalsangra had parked the bike at the spot.
Bomb Motorcycle Link to Thakur Rejected
The court questioned the very basis of the theory that the bomb was fitted on to the bike and said, “Prosecution has successfully proved that there was a blast but failed to established that the bomb was fitted on the motorcycle. On the basis of evidence on record, the court came to conclusion that there is a possibility of keeping the bomb outside the bike either by hanging on the bike or keep bomb next to the bike.”
Further the court refused to accept the identification of the bike and that it belonged to Thakur. The court found the process of identification of bike faulty and observed that “On the basis of the restoration of some incomplete alphanumeric numbers, from the engine number plate which were close to the engine number, the prosecution jumped to the conclusion that it belonged to Thakur and is the same vehicle used in the blast.”
“Probability was converted into certainty, without cogent and reliable evidence,” the court said adding that “there was no cogent and reliable evidence to show that Thakur was indeed owner of the vehicle and she was in immediate possession of the vehicle before the blast, especially when she had renounced the material world two years prior to the said incident.”
The court has also raised a question that since the area was cordoned off due to festival of Ramzan, how the bike reached the spot? Besides the court said that there is no evidence on how and when the bomb was placed at the alleged spot. The court also said that the contamination of the spot of incident played a crucial role as because of which the credible evidence was lost.
No Evidence RDX Was Used or Procured
Further the court said, there was no evidence on point of source, procuring and transportation of RDX, which is alleged to have been used in the blast. The court negated the prosecution theory that Purohit had procured RDX from Kashmir after completion of his posting there and had allegedly stored it in his house in a cupboard. The court in fact said that there was no evidence that RDX was indeed used in the blast and the bomb was assembled by Purohit.
Chaturvedi’s House Search Called Tampered
The court also acknowledge the findings of NIA that the evidence regarding traces of RDX alleged to have been found from the house of Chaturvedi in Pune was manipulated, in view of the testimony of the two army officials who saw the ATS officer at Chaturvedi’s house in his absence.
Conspiracy Theory Falls Flat in Court
The court further refused to accept the evidence on the conspiracy. “The largest part of conspiracy took place at the meeting held at Faridabad and Bhopal. The material witnesses to these meetings did not support the prosecution, and those who did support, their testimonies were not found to be reliable and acceptable.”
Besides the court noted that the rest of the meetings are said to have taken place at Kolkata, Indore, Nashik, Pune, but it found that no acceptable evidence came on record on that point. The court noted that the witnesses whose statements were recorded by ATS on the point of conspiracy, retracted from their statement. Hence the court said neither the conspiracy nor the meeting was proved.
