2008 Malegaon blast: Victims move HC against acquittal of Pragya Thakur, 6 others

Six family members of people who died in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast have moved the Bombay High Court, challenging 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 on Monday by Nisar Ahmed Sayyed Bilal and five others through their advocate Mateen Shaikh, sought the HC to quash the special court judgment.

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, on September 29, 2008, killing six persons and injuring 101 others.

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 deserves to be quashed.

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

Special judge A K Lahoti, presiding over the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court, had said there was no “reliable and cogent evidence” against the accused that proved the case beyond reasonable doubt.

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

The NIA court had in its judgment 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 comprised Major Ramesh Upadhyay (retired), Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni.