2-Wheeler Linked Pragya To Malegaon Blast, Also Got Her Freed

The two-wheeler bearing registration number MH-15-P-4572, that made former BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur an accused in the Malegaon blast in 2008 which killed six people and injured scores of people, was also the reason behind her acquittal.

In the initial stages of the investigation it was found that the number plate of the two-wheeler used in the blast was found to be fake, but what led the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad to Pragya's doorstep was the chassis number of the two-wheeler.

A month before Hemant Karkare was killed by Pakistani terrorists in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, the ATS, who was investigating the case, restored the chassis number of the scooter through the Forensic Science Laboratory, Nashik.

The Malegaon blast case was transferred to the National Investigating Agency in 2011.

The chemical test at the Nashik Forensic Science Laboratory yielded three probable numbers.

These were sent to the two-wheeler manufacturer but none matched their records.

However, the manufacturer provided a number resembling those from the FSL findings, and that was identified as belonging to the two-wheeler linked (external link) to Pragya.

Unfortunately for the prosecution, the chassis number that the investigation was relying on to implicate Pragya failed as the court said in its judgment that the chassis number of the two-wheeler had been wiped out and therefore it could not be connected to Pragya.

'No proof of Sadhvi owning the two-wheeler used in the blast,' Special NIA Court Judge A K Lahoti said in his judgment.

The court further observed that Pragya had taken sanyas two years before the blast and had distanced herself from material possessions.

Lawyer Shyam Keswani, who got Pragya out on bail earlier, said that he knew the Malegaon case was politically motivated from day one.

"The Malegaon blast case was fabricated from day one. Ultimately justice prevailed," Keswani told Rediff.

In her defence, Pragya stated that she had sold her two-wheeler to Sunil Joshi in 2004.

Sunil Joshi was shot dead on December 29, 2007 -- before the Malegaon blast -- by two bike-borne killers.

Pragya was named one of the accused in his murder. However, she was acquitted in the Sunil Joshi murder case in February 2017.