2008 Malegaon blast: HC issues notice to NIA, 7 acquitted persons on appeal by victims' kin

The Bombay High Court on Thursday issued notices to the seven persons acquitted in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, on an appeal filed by the family members of the victims.

A Bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad also issued notices to the prosecution -- National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Maharashtra government -- and posted the appeal for hearing after six weeks.

The HC was hearing an appeal filed by the family members of the six persons who lost their lives in the blast against the acquittal judgment.

The appeal challenged a special court judgment acquitting the seven accused in the case, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit.

The appeal filed last week claimed that a faulty investigation or some defects in the probe cannot be the grounds for acquitting the accused. It also contended that the conspiracy (of the blast) was hatched in secrecy and hence, there cannot be direct evidence of it.

The petitioners claimed the order passed by the special NIA court on July 31, acquitting the seven accused, was wrong and bad in law and hence deserved to be quashed.

On September 29, 2008, an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon town, located about 200 km from Mumbai in Maharashtra's Nashik district, killing six persons and injuring 101 others.

The appeal said the trial court judge should not act as a "postman or mute spectator" in a criminal trial. When the prosecution failed to elicit facts, the trial court can ask questions and/or summon witnesses, it added.

"The trial court has unfortunately acted as a mere post office and allowed a deficient prosecution to benefit the accused," the appeal said.

It also raised concerns over the manner in which the National Investigation Agency (NIA) conducted the probe and trial in the case and sought the accused to be convicted.

The state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), by arresting the seven persons, unearthed a large conspiracy, and since then, there has been no blast in areas populated by the minority community, the appeal said.

It claimed the NIA, after taking over the case, diluted the allegations against the accused persons.

The special court had, in its judgment, said mere suspicion cannot replace real proof and there was no cogent or reliable evidence to warrant a conviction.

Special judge A K Lahoti, presiding over the NIA court, had said there was no "reliable and cogent evidence" against the accused that proved the case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The prosecution's case was that the blast was carried out by right-wing extremists with the intention to terrorise the Muslim community in the communally sensitive Malegaon town.

The NIA court, in its judgment, had flagged several loopholes in the prosecution's case and the investigation carried out, and said the accused persons deserved the benefit of doubt.

Besides Thakur and Purohit, the accused included Major Ramesh Upadhyay (retired), Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni.