2008 Malegaon Bomb Blast Case: NIA Court Acquits All 7 Accused, Including Ex-BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur (Photo on X@sadhvipragyag)
Mumbai, Maharashtra: Seventeen years after the deadly blast in Malegaon in Maharashtra, a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai on Thursday acquitted all seven accused in connection with the case.
The accused who were acquitted in the case include former BJP MPs – Pragya Singh Thakurat, Colonel Purohit among others. The incident occurred on September 29, 2008, when an explosive device planted in a motorcycle detonated near a mosque in Malegaon City, Nashik, killing at least six people.
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The accused in the Malegaon blast case include Sadhvi Pragya Singh, Lt Colonel Purohit and others. On September 29, 2008, six people were killed, and several others injured when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle detonated near a mosque in Malegaon City, Nashik. The incident also left more than a hundred injured when the bomb detonated in the communally sensitive town.
NIA court Judge AK Lahoti delivered the verdict, stating that the prosecution proved that a blast occurred in Malegaon, but failed to prove that a bomb was placed in that particular motorcycle. It said that the bike allegedly involved in the blast did not have a clear chassis number, and the prosecution could not prove that it was in the accused’s (Pragya Thakur) possession.
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Talking about the case, Advocate Ranjit Nair says, who was representing accused number 11 Sudhakar Chaturvedi, said the court has acquitted his client, observing that prosecution cannot present any proof against accused, news agency PTI reported quoting the lawyer. The court noted that the is no evidence of storing or assembling the explosives in accused Shrikant Prasad Purohit’s residence while acquitting him, adding that the anti-terror law UAPA could not be invoked in this case as “sanction was not taken as per rules.”
The court further said that injured people were not 101 but 95 only, and there was manipulation in some medical certificates too.
In 2011, the case was transferred to NIA from Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), and the central agency had been investigating the case.
Reacting to the verdict, journalist and fact checker, Muhammed Zubair expressed despair in the ruling, and wrote, “So no one was involved in a Malegaon blast near a mosque which 6 people killed, over 100 injured.”
So no one was involved in a malegaon blast near a mosque which 6 people killed, over 100 injured. A special NIA court acquitted all seven accused including Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit.
A Special Judge passed the order after a lengthy trial in the… pic.twitter.com/W7HWU0pJQW— Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) July 31, 2025
Expressing its disappointment over the verdict, Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued a statement called the ruling a travesty of justice. In a statement, the left political party said that the NIA sought commensurate punishment submitting that the conspirators orchestrated the crime to terrorise a section of the Muslim community, disrupt essential services, create communal tensions, and threaten the State’s internal security.
“It is yet another case of undue delay and eventual denial of justice to the victims of the terrorist act by an extremist Hindutva group,” the party stated, adding that the accused were patraonised and supported by the RSS-BJP all through, and that the BJP even made Pragya Singh their candidate and got her elected as a MP. The party further demanded the government to appeal the NIA Court’s decision.
#CPIM Polit Bureau statement on the travesty of justice in the #malegaonblastcase https://t.co/eBiqDkAc1N pic.twitter.com/rvMSzcG3mo
— CPI (M) (@cpimspeak) July 31, 2025
