Former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit hailed a special court's order acquitting them in the 2008 Malegaon blast case. Thakur said the acquittal was a win for "bhagwa" (saffron) and that God will punish those who tried to insult it. Purohit said he was implicated and will continue to serve the nation.
Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, acquitted in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, received a grand welcome upon his return to Pune. Supporters celebrated his acquittal after a special court noted a lack of reliable evidence against him.
A special court acquitted seven individuals in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, challenging the prosecution's assertion that the right-wing group Abhinav Bharat was responsible. The court emphasized that the organization remains unbanned by the government.
Here's the list of the seven accused who faced trial in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.
A special court acquitted seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, citing a lack of cogent and reliable evidence. The court emphasized that mere suspicion cannot replace real proof and highlighted loopholes in the prosecution's case.
Nearly 17 years after a blast in Malegaon town of north Maharashtra claimed six lives, a special court in Mumbai on Thursday acquitted all the seven accused, including former Bharatiya Janata Party MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, noting there was 'no reliable and cogent evidence' against them.
For Malegaon's Muslims, Rahul Gandhi's remarks were simply one more indication that the party they once supported no longer cares for them, notes Jyoti Punwani.
The prosecution has proved the entire chain that connected the accused with each other for achieving the goal of executing the bomb blast and perform terrorist acts, the written statement, filed by the intervenor for the victims, said.
On September 29, 2008, a bomb explosion at 9:35pm opposite Shakil Goods Transport Company situated between Anjuman Chowk and Bhiku Chowk in Malegaon killed six persons and injured 101.
The witness, who worked at a hotel in Madhya Pradesh's Indore, had in his statement to the Anti-Terrorism Squad claimed that he had booked rooms for the accused in the case.
Lt Colonel Prasad Purohit, an accused in the September 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, on Tuesday filed an application before a special court in Mumbai requesting that the ongoing trial be held in-camera.
The hotelier from Panchmarhi, during his deposition in the court of Special NIA Judge PR Sitre, denied making any statement to the probe agencies, said special public prosecutor Avinash Rasal.
The witness deposed before the special National Investigation Agency court on Tuesday.
The Bombay high court on Friday stayed the granting of custody of three key accused in the September 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case to the National Investigation Agency.
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Monday came in defence of Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Colonel Prasad Purohit, prime accused in the Malegaon blasts, and called the imposition of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against them as 'political conspiracy'.
The Anti-Terrorist Squad of the Mumbai police suffered a major setback last week, when charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against Sadhvi Pragya Singh, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit and nine other accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, were dropped by the special court's designated Judge Y B Shinde.Dropping MCOCA charges against the prime accused in the Malegaon blast case has definitely made the prosecution's task tougher.
Among other grounds for seeking discharge, Purohit had claimed lack of sanction under relevant provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure to prosecute him.
Terming the invocation of Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act against them as inappropriate, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit and Abhinav Bharat treasurer Ajay Rahirkar, both accused in the September 29 Malegaon blast case, on Saturday moved the special MCOCA court seeking bail.Purohit and Rahirkar, in their bail applications, claimed that the Anti-Terrorism Squad had no evidence linking them to the blast and that they have nothing to do with the case.
An armyman, who had served with Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit in Military Intelligence, is likely to be made a prosecution witness in the Malegaon blast case as the Anti Terrorism Squad inquiring into the matter has recorded his statement.
Purohit was doing his job as a military intelligence officer and was "framed" in the case, his lawyer and former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the high court on Friday.
Thakur had appeared before the court in June last year after it ordered the seven accused to remain present once a week. She later sought exemption from appearance on various occasions since then.
Six people were killed and over 100 injured when an explosive device strapped on a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon, a town about 200 km from Mumbai in north Maharashtra, on September 29, 2008.
Vaihayasi Pande Daniel reports on all the action that unfolded at the NIA court hearing the 2008 Malegaon blast case.
The National Investigating Agency has raised questions over the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad's handling of the Malegaon blast case.
Pragya Singh Thakur remained at the back of the courtroom during Tuesday's framing of the charges, her face serene, quite different from the fiery person one read about or saw on television. But once the day's proceedings were over and she was wheeled out, the sadhvi decided she actually was very keen to meet the media and headed right out into the melee, says Vaihayasi Pande Daniel/Rediff.com.
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