17 years on, verdict in 2008 Malegaon blast likely to be pronounced on Thursday

Nearly 17 years after a blast in Malegaon claimed six lives and injured over 100 people a special NIA court is expected to pronounce its verdict in the case on Thursday news agency PTI reportedSeven individuals including former BJP MP Pragya Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit stood trial under charges framed under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act UAPA and the Indian Penal Code The other accused are Major Retd Ramesh Upadhyay Ajay Rahirkar Sudhakar Dwivedi Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer KulkarniThe National Investigation Agency NIA which led the probe has called for appropriate punishment for the accused The trial began in 2018 and concluded on April 19 2025 The judgment was then reservedSix people were killed and more than 100 were injured when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in the town located about 200 km from Mumbai on September 29 2008In its final argument the NIA submitted that the blast in Malegaon a town with a sizable Muslim population was orchestrated by the conspirators to terrorise a section of the Muslim community disrupt essential services create communal tensions and threaten the states internal security as per the news agency PTIThe NIA has said that based on relevant admissible cogent trustworthy wholly reliable and proved evidence it conclusively and cogently established the crucial circumstances to form a complete chain of eventsIt was established that the accused were directly involved in the part of a larger conspiracy hatched amongst themselves and were instrumental in causing a bomb explosion the prosecution contended reported PTIThe blast took place during the holy month of Ramzan just before the Navratri festival the NIA pointed out claiming the intention of the accused was to strike terror in a section of the Muslim communityThe case was initially probed by the Maharashtra AntiTerrorism Squad ATS before being transferred to the NIA in 2011The trial in the case began in 2018 after the court framed charges against the seven accusedThe charges comprised 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 groupsDuring the trial the prosecution presented 323 witnesses of whom 37 turned hostileThakur in her final statement submitted that her implication in the case is totally illegal bad in law and contrary to the law of the land and with malafide intention and ulterior motiveCiting the testimony of Mohan Kulkarni an ATS officer who was part of the probe Thakur claimed his statement clearly shows she is an innocent personFurther referring to the officers testimony the BJP leader alleged she has been implicated in this case by manipulating evidence with a prejudiced mind as it was predecided to implicate her reported news agency PTIPurohit has submitted that there is no material evidence linking him to the alleged offenceThe prosecutions case rests on fabricated and contradictory witness statements that are devoid of any independent corroboration and fail to meet the evidentiary threshold required in law his final arguments claimedHe alleged the investigation was tainted by serious procedural irregularities and a complete disregard for standard legal protocolsThese lapses not only vitiate the fairness of the proceedings but also render the prosecutions case wholly speculative and unreliable he added reported PTIThe other accused too has made similar submissionsThe intervenor representing the victims side contended that the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case is a classic example where the defence lacks a reasoned argumentSome of the accused claim the bombing never happened while others blame it on SIMI Students Islamic Movement of IndiaEach of the seven accused has advanced different and often conflicting defences which are contrary to each others claim which itself strengthens the case of prosecution the victims said in their final submissionThe present prosecuting agency NIA has established beyond a reasonable doubt the involvement of all the accused in the bomb blast as they submittedWith PTI inputs