Maharashtra: 9 held in connection with 2006 Nanded blast cleared of charges

The nine accused acquitted on Saturday included Rakesh Dhawade, who was also named an accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. The ATS had invoked stringent sections of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), based on the cases against Dhawade, including the Nanded case. Dhawade, was, however, discharged from the main conspiracy case of the Malegaon blast in 2018.

According to the CBI, the blast had taken place in Nanded at the house of one Laxman Rajkondwar, while assembling an explosive.

“The court on Saturday acquitted all the accused,” advocate ND Runwal, representing the accused, said. He said he had submitted on behalf of the accused that the incident did not involve any explosive but was caused due to an accident involving firecrackers. The detailed order is yet to be made available.

Confirming the acquittal, a CBI official said that once the detailed judgment is made available, a decision will be taken on filing an appeal.

In 2022, former RSS worker Yashwant Shinde had approached the court in this case, seeking to be examined as a witness, claiming that three men, including a senior Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader, were main conspirators in the case, and said that he had attended a training camp in Pune. The court, however, rejected the plea questioning why he had not made an attempt to approach the investigating agency in the past 16 years.