Hyderabad: A special NIA court on Thursday acquitted all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, including BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit, citing lack of evidence.
The court dismissed all charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Arms Act, and IPC. The decision comes after 17 years of proceedings in one of India’s most politically sensitive terror cases.
The blast occurred on September 29, 2008, when a bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded near Bhikku Chowk mosque in Malegaon, Nashik district. The explosion, during Ramzan and days before Navratri, killed six and injured over 100 in the communally sensitive town.
In a packed courtroom, the judge pronounced the verdict with all accused present. The court ordered ₹2 lakh compensation for families of the deceased and ₹50,000 for each injured victim.
Initially investigated by Maharashtra ATS, the case was handed to the NIA in 2011. The trial involved over one lakh pages of documentation and 323 witnesses, of whom 34 turned hostile. In 2016, the NIA dropped terror charges against several accused, including Pragya, citing lack of prosecutable evidence.
All accused had been out on bail. The verdict ends years of legal and political scrutiny tied to the case.
