2008 Malegaon blast case: NIA to decide on appeal after analysing verdict

The NIA had taken over the investigation of the Malegaon blast, where six people were killed and several others were injured after a bomb placed inside a motorcycle exploded at Bhikhu Chowk on September 29, 2008, from the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in 2011.

Imtiaz Jaleel, a former All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MLA from Maharashtra, said, “Like the state had earlier this month appealed the acquittal of the 12 accused in the train blasts in Mumbai promptly, they should similarly appeal against this acquittal as well.”

Earlier this month, the Maharashtra government had moved the Supreme Court against a Bombay High Court order acquitting 12 accused in the Mumbai train blasts case.

After the NIA took over the probe, it dropped the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) sections that had been applied by the ATS, stating that the manner in which it was applied was “questionable”.

The NIA then sought that Thakur be dropped as an accused, as there was no evidence against her and that it was inadmissible as MCOCA was dropped. Certain witness statements against her were also no longer admissible as evidence, the central agency pointed out. The special court, however, had said that prima facie there was enough evidence against her to put her on trial.

The NIA had also said that of the 11 individuals arrested by the ATS, evidence existed against only seven, and the two wanted accused, Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange. Following this, the trial proceeded against seven people—Thakur, Purohit, Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sameer Kulkarni, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, and Sudhakar Dhardwivedi—based on the chargesheet filed by the NIA in May 2016.

All seven were acquitted on Thursday.