Mumbai: The special court on Thursday acquitted all the accused, including ex-BJP MP Pragya Thakur and Lt. Col Prasad Purohit, of all the charges for want of evidence. On September 29, 2008, a bomb planted on a motorcycle went off in Malegaon, killing six persons and injuring 101.
The verdict came after 17 years wherein special judge A K Lahoti pronounced the verdict after evaluating evidence presented by the Maharashtra Anti-terrorism squad as well as the National Investigation Agency, which took over the case later.
No Evidence Indicating Purohit Prepared The Bomb
The court concluded that the bomb was likely placed outside the motorcycle, not planted inside it. It also observed manipulation in certain medical certificates. There is no evidence to suggest the source, transportation or storage of RDX at Lt. Col. Purohit's residence. Furthermore, there is no material indicating that Purohit prepared the bomb.
There is also no evidence identifying who parked the motorcycle or who planted the bomb. The spot panchnama was found to be faulty. The collection of evidence at the blast site was not done by experts, and due to contamination of the spot, the forensic results cannot be considered conclusive.
No Evidence Proving Bike Linked To Pragya Thakur
Additionally, there is no cogent or reliable evidence proving that the motorcycle belonged to Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur or that she was connected to it. The alleged meetings in Faridabad and Bhopal were considered to be the core of the conspiracy; however, key witnesses turned hostile, and the prosecution failed to prove that the meetings took place or that any conspiracy was hatched therein.
The court observed that the evidence based on the voice sample was unreliable, as there was no proper authorization for the interception. Therefore, such conversations cannot be relied upon.
Additionally, the court noted that the prosecution sanction under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) was faulty, and as a result, the provisions of the UAPA cannot be invoked in this case.
No Funds Of Abhinav Bharat Used For Terrorist Activities
Regarding Abhinav Bharat, the court noted that Sudhakar Chaturvedi was the treasurer and Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit was a trustee. It observed that while Purohit had used the organisation’s funds for personal purposes such as house construction and LIC payments, there is no evidence to suggest that the funds were used for any terrorist activities.
The court further stated that the statements of key witnesses did not support the prosecution's claims of conspiracy. While there may be grounds for suspicion, the evidence presented is not sufficient to establish guilt.
The court added that both the witnesses and the overall evidentiary material are not reliable or strong enough, making it unsafe to base a conviction on them.
Since the evidence does not inspire confidence, the court granted the benefit of doubt to all the accused. All the seven accused in the case were acquitted. Additionally, the court has asked the state to give compensation to victims - 2 lakhs to the family of the deceased and Rs 50000 to the injured.
11 Arrested Initially, 7 Put To Trial Later
The Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad had arrested 11 persons for their alleged roles in the blasts. However, a decade later, only seven were put to trial and others were discharged.
These seven accused are - Thakur, Purohit, Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sudhakar Dwivedi alias Swami Amritunand Devtirth.
The trial in the Malegaon blast case was concluded in July last year, with the prosecution presenting testimony from 323 witnesses and submitting approximately 9,997 documents and 404 articles as evidence during the trial. Out of the 323 witnesses, 34 did not support the prosecution’s case and were declared hostile.
The ATS had claimed that the accused were members of Abhinav Bharat, aiming to establish a Hindu Rashtra called Aryavart and also trained people in guerrilla warfare. They allegedly trained youths in arms and explosives at Bhonsala Military School in 2001, some of whom were linked to the 2006 and 2008 Malegaon blasts.
In 2011, all related terror cases were handed over to the NIA. On May 13, 2016, the NIA filed a supplementary chargesheet, endorsing the ATS theory but giving a clean chit to Pragya Thakur and others. It recommended dropping charges, citing a flawed ATS probe and stated that MCOCA provisions didn’t apply. The special court however had refused to discharge Thakur.
