2008 Malegaon bomb blast: All 7 accused acquitted, court says prosecution failed to provide cogent and reliable evidence
Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sameer Kulkarni, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, and Sudhakar Dhardwivedi were cleared of all charges, including criminal conspiracy and murder under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections of the anti-terror law, Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Special Judge A K Lahoti, who pronounced all seven not guilty, noted the prosecution proved the blast but failed to establish that a bomb was fitted in the motorcycle.
'Conspiracy and meetings also have not been proved. Interception of calls not authorised. Both sanction orders to invoke are defective, UAPA cannot be invoked, ' the court said.
The court said that the prosecution failed to provide cogent and reliable evidence, and also failed to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. There might be strong suspicion against the accused, but it is not enough to punish them, said the court.
The court also ordered compensation of Rs 2 lakh to the families of the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast victims, and Rs 50,000 to the injured victims to be given by the government.
The detailed order of the court is yet to be made available.
On September 29, 2008, a bomb went off at a chowk in Malegaon, a town known for its power loom industry, about 100 km northeast of Nashik in Maharashtra. The blast, which took place in an area with a sizeable Muslim population, killed six people and injured 100 during Ramzan, the holy month of fasting in Islam.
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