Malegaon Blast Case Highlights: NIA acquits all; victims' kin to file appeal to challenge verdict

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE: NCP MP Praful Patel has also welcomed the NIA verdict in the Malegaon case, acquitting all seven accused.

“All condemned what happened in Malegaon, but the court's verdict in the Malegaon blast should be welcomed by all. We consider citizens of our country as ‘Bharatiya’… Hindus were killed in the Pahalgam attack. We will only call this a terrorist attack,” he told reporters .

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE: Neeta Dhanwade, advocate and the sister of accused Ramesh Dhanwade stated her family was happy with the verdict.

“.We had already maintained our innocence, but we had to fight the case for 17 years. Today's decision has become very important, and we are happy... The 17 years we have endured cannot be fully expressed in words. Our financial situation was not favourable, and mentally we were completely exhausted. Our whole family was shattered because of this... It was the Congress government that promoted the concept of Hindu terrorism. Now, the court's decision has proved that Hindus can never be terrorists,” she was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has hailed the verdict of the Malegaon blast case and acquitall of all seven accused.

“The acquittal of all accused in the Malegaon blast case is a vibrant proclamation of ‘Satyameva Jayate.’ This decision once again exposes the anti-India, anti-justice, and anti-Sanatan character of the Congress, which committed the crime of tarnishing the image of crores of Sanatan believers, sadhus-saints, and nation-servers by fabricating the false term 'saffron terrorism,” he wrote on X.

“The Congress should publicly acknowledge its unforgivable misdeed and apologize to the nation,” the UP CM added further.

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE: Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Eknath Shinde has hailed the verdict of the Malegaon blast case. Taking to X, the Maharashtra leader wrote that the verdict shows that “truth will never be defeated.”

“After a long battle of seventeen years, a special court has acquitted seven alleged accused in the Malegaon bomb blast case. It is true that justice was delayed, but it has once again been proven that truth is never defeated.],” wrote Shinde.

“From the very beginning, Shiv Sena has unequivocally supported the patriots who were falsely accused and imprisoned in the Malegaon blast case. This is because Shiv Sena never had any doubt that their cause was just. Colonel Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya, and the other seven individuals had to endure immense mental and physical torment due to these accusations. The Hindu community will never forget this injustice,” he added.

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE: Speaking about the 2008 Malegaon verdict pronounced today, Congress MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa stressed the importance of faith in both divinity and the judiciary, saying, "India is a secular country, in which all castes are equal... Either God or the court can give or take lives... They can hang someone or acquit someone. When one loses faith in God, they go to the court... A person in the court takes an oath to speak only the truth... If that truth is harmed, then it will not be good for the country."

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE: BJP leader and former minister Sudhir Mungantiwar alleged that the previous ruling parties had tried to frame innocent individuals in the Malegaon case for political reasons.

“Then ruling parties tried to indict innocent people in the case to appease certain communities and there was a political motive behind it as was said after the case was registered. The verdict has ratified the doubt raised then. I think the home department will now try to find the real accused in the case. We also need to deliberate upon and introspect on the time taken for such crucial cases by the courts,” he said.

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE: Advocate Shahid Nadeem, representing the victim families of the 2008 Malegaon blast, said on Thursday that he will challenge the acquittal of the seven accused in the High Court soon.

"We will file an appeal independently," the advocate told ANI.

"It is sad that we were waiting for the judgment for 17 years. But this is not the victim's fault that the acquittal happened; they just suffered. The victims had come from Malegaon to show their wounds, the court gave the benefit of the doubt because the agency had failed, the ATS and government failed. The victims have no role in this," the lawyer said.

The lawyer's statement comes after a NIA special court on Thursday acquitted all 7 accused, including former MP Sadhvi Pragya, Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhankar Dhar Dwivedi (Shankaracharya) and Sameer Kulkarni.

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE: Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant said that investigation agencies failed to gather evidence and real culprits are serious issues in the Malegaon case.

"The remarks by the court which says there is no evidence is a serious matter. If there was no evidence against Sadhvi Pradnya and others why they suffered all these years it was injustice with them. But as the incident happened someone must be involved in it. Who are they? Why can't investigation agencies catch them?" asked Sawant.

Malegon BLast Case Verdict LIVE: A special NIA court has acquitted all seven accused in the Malegaon blast case, which killed six people and injured around 100.

The seven accused are -

1. Former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur
2. Lt Col Prasad Purohit
3. Retired army officer Ramesh Shivaji Upadhyay (73)
4. Pune-based businessman Samir Sharad Kulkarni (53)
5. Ajay Eknath Rahirkar (56)
6. Sudhakar Omkarnath Chaturvedi (53),
7. Sudharkar Dhar Dwivedi, also known as Swami Amrutanand Devtirth (56)

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE: Maharashtra Chief Minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis has reacted to the acquittal of the Malegaon blast case. accused.

Taking to X, the Mahrashtra leader wrote - “Terrorism was never saffron, is not, and will never be!”

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE: BJP MP Ravi Kishan has called on the Congress to be held accountable after the acquittal if all seven accused in the Malegaon blast case.

“We don't know whether to be happy or sad. My sister Sadhvi Pragya used to sit next to me in the Parliament. Her entire body is paralysed. What must the accused and their families have gone through who faced the false allegations... Who will return those 17 years? ” the BJP MP asked.

“The Congress that coined the term Bhagwa Terrorism must answer. They are all accountable... They have to answer 100 crore Hindus with what proof they started speaking of Bhagwa terrorism... Who was the mastermind behind this narrative?... The Home Minister said it yesterday, and it is proven today that a Hindu cannot be a terrorist... We will demand an answer in the Parliament on the term 'Bhagwa Terrorism'.” he added further.

“In 2008, Congress falsely accused Pragya Thakur and other in this case... They spread the new narrative of 'saffron terrorism' for their vote bank politics. Today, after 17 years, the NIA court has acquitted all the accused of their charges. I think, the Congress should apologise to all those who were tortured in this case,” said Shiv Sena MP Shrikant Shinde to reporters after the acquittal of all seven accused in the Malegaon blast case.

A special NIA court acquitted all seven accused in the 2008 blasts, citing lack of evidence.

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE: The court also highlighted inconsistencies in the prosecution’s evidence. While it acknowledged that a blast indeed took place, the court said the prosecution failed to conclusively link the motorcycle found at the site to an explosive device.

"Prosecution proved that a blast occurred in Malegaon, but failed to prove that a bomb was placed in that motorcycle," the court stated.

The court further noted discrepancies in the number of victims, concluding that "the injured people were not 101 but 95 only, and there was manipulation in some medical certificates."

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE Updates: After the special NIA court acquitted Lt Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit in the Malegaon blast case, he told reporters - "I thank you for giving me a chance to serve my nation and my organisation with the same conviction which I was doing before me being framed in this matter. I don’t blame any organisation for all this. Organisations like investigating agencies are not wrong, but people inside the organisations are the ones who have done wrong . I thank you for restoring the faith of the common man in the system again"."

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE Updates: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president Asaduddin Owaisi has termed the verdict in the Malegaon case as “disappointing.”

Taking to X, the AIMIM leader stated that the community in Malegaon were targeted for their religion.

“The Malegaon blast case verdict is disappointing. Six namazis were killed in the blast and nearly 100 were injured. They were targeted for their religion. A deliberately shoddy investigation/prosecution is responsible for the acquittal,” he wrote.

“17 years after the blast, the Court has acquitted all of the accused for lack of evidence. Will the Modi & Fadnavis governments appeal the judgement the way they swiftly demanded stay in the Mumbai train blasts acquittals? Will Maharashtra’s “secular” political parties demand accountability? Who killed the 6 people?” he asked further.

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE: The court ruled that the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) could not be applied in the case as the sanction for prosecution was not obtained in accordance with legal requirements.

"The UAPA will not be invoked in this case as sanction was not taken as per rules. Both the sanction orders of the UAPA in the case are defective," ANI quoted the court as saying.

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE Updates: After acquitting the seven accused in the Malegaon blast case, the court noted that terror has “no religion.”

"Terrorism has no religion because no religion can advocate violence. The court cannot convict anyone merely on perception and moral evidence; there has to be cogent evidence," reported news agency ANI.

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE updates: As per a report by LiveLaw, the special court said there is no evidence to the effect that Abhinav Bharat, an organisation founded by Pragya Thakur and Col. Purohit, used its funds for terror activities.

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE Updates: Former BJP MP Pragya Thakur has stated that the case against her has “ruined” her life.

“I said this from the very beginning that those who are called for investigation there should be a basis behind that. I was called by them for investigation and was arrested and tortured. This ruined my whole life. I was living a sage’s life, but I was made and accused, and no one was willingly standing beside us. I am alive because I am a Sanyasi. They defamed Bhagwa through a conspiracy. Today, Bhagwa has won, and Hindutva has won, and God will punish those who are guilty. However, those who defamed India and Bhagwa have not been proved wrong by you.,” she told news agency ANI.

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE updates: Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske has hailed the verdict in the Malegaon blast case, stating that “truth has won,.”

“The truth has won. The case had been going on for the last 17 years. Many army officers claimed that they made certain statements under pressure from the ATS. But today, everything is out in the open. The Congress government took action to spread the misunderstanding among the people in the name of Hindu terror. Today, it has been proven that the action they took was false,” he told news agency ANI.

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE: Pragya Thakur was one of the seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case that killed six people and injured over 100. She was arrested in 2008 and charged under the UAPA and IPC, including for murder and conspiracy. The NIA alleges she was part of a larger conspiracy to incite communal violence.

Thakur had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha election from Bhopal constituency, running against Digvijaya Singh of the Congress. She won her debut contest by a margin of 364,822 votes.

Apart from the allegations against her in the Malegaon case, the former BJP MP has been in the news for controversial remarks, including calling Nathuram Godse (Gandhi’s assassin) a “patriot".

Her remarks have at times caused national uproar and drawn criticism from even her party’s top leadership.

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE: As per the investigation done by the Maharashtra ATS version, former BJP MP Pragya Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Purohit, the founder of Abhinav Bharat, a right wing organisation, and the other accused hatched a conspiracy to take 'revenge' and 'terrorise' the Muslim community.

As per the Maharashtra ATS, several 'conspiracy meetings' allegedly took place in Bhopal, Indore and other places ahead of the blast.

According to the ATS, Thakur had provided a motorcycle, which was used for executing the blast.

The said motorcycle, the ATS added, was registered in Thakur's name.

In Thursday's acquittal, the special court reiterated that no concrete evidence had been presented by the prosecution that the bike was in possession of Thakur.

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE Updates: The blast took place at a chowk in a Muslim-dominated area of Malegaon on September 29, 2008. It was the month of Ramadan, when the Muslim community observe fasting.

It was suspected that those behind the blast had chosen the timing in the Muslim holy month, just before the Hindu Navratri festival, to create communal rifts, The Indian Express said in a report.

The investigation was transferred to the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) from the local police. However, in 2011, the case was transferred to the NIA.

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict LIVE: A special court in Mumbai headed by NIA judge A K Lahoti has acquitted all seven accused in the Malegaon blast case which killed six people.

The accused had been charged with UAPA sections 16 (committing terrorist act) and 18 (conspiring to commit terrorist act) and various IPC sections, including 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 153 (a) (promoting enmity between two religious groups).

Malegaon Blast Case Verdict Live Updates: Former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Purohit, retired Major Ramesh Upadhayay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sameer Kulkarni, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi are the seven accused in the Malegaon blast case.

All 7 have been acquitted by the NIA court in Thursday's verdict