Special NIA Court judgement tomorrow
- Quaid Najmi
- Jul 29
- 4 min read
Mumbai: Almost 17 years after a bomb blast shook up the communally sensitive Malegaon town in Nashik, a Special Court of National Investigation Agency here will pronounce its final verdict on Thursday July 31, in the sensational case loaded with political overtones.
The NIA Special Judge A. K. Lahoti will deliver the much-anticipated judgement tomorrow, when all the accused in the case have been ordered to remain present in the Special Court, said Senior Advocate J. P. Mishra, representing one of the prime accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.
“The Special Court had taken time in May to study the huge volume of documents submitted on record during the entire trial. The arguments alone went on for some six months,” the ace criminal lawyer Mishra told ‘The Perfect Voice’, as he prepared for the upcoming red-letter-day.
The Special Judge Lahoti had completed the final hearing on April 19 and had summoned all the accused to remain present in the Special Court today, where he disclosed the date of the day of judgement, said Adv. Mishra.
The explosion by a powerful bomb - planted on a scooter - took place on Sep. 29, 2008, around 9.35 pm, when Ramzan was in full swing and on the eve of Navratri festival.
At least seven persons were killed and 100 others were injured in the blast which came barely two months before the devastating Nov. 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes.
A Special Court in Mumbai conducted the trial against the prime accused who include former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.
The other accused are a retired army intelligence officer Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit, ex-army Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ajay Rahirkar, Sameer Kulkarni and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi.
They were booked under sections of the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act pertaining to committing terror act, conspiracy, murder, attempt to murder, voluntarily causing hurt and promoting enmity between two religious groups.
The probe was first conducted by the Nashik Police and later taken over by the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS), then headed by the 26/11 hero, Hemant Karkare.
The ATS filed its chargesheet in 2009 but considering its ramifications, the sensitive case was transferred to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Dec. 2010. The NIA probed and lodged its chargesheet in May 2013 and also filed a supplementary chargesheet in 2016.
The Special Court framed the charges against the seven prime accused on October 30, 2018 and the trial proceeded.
Though the NIA investigations aligned with the ATS probe, there were differences on certain aspects and on July 31, 2009, the NIA recommended dropping charges under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA).
The Special Court accepted the recommendations but the Bombay High Court reinstated the MCOCA charges on July 19, 2010.
The hearing of evidence in the case was concluded in Sep. 2023 after examining 323 witnesses, of whom 34 had turned hostile.
Others accused in the case – Pravin Takalki, Shyamlal Sahu and Shivnarayan Kalsangra – were discharged from the case for lack of evidence.
Two others wanted – Ramchandra Kalsangra who along with Sandeep Dange, both from Indore – for allegedly planting the bomb, reportedly died in police custody, as claimed by a suspended police official, Mehboob Mujawar.
Malegaon 2008 blasts – timeline:
September 29, 2008:
A powerful bomb planted on a scooter ripped through a crowded market in the minority-dominated Malegaon town, seven killed and over 100 hurt during Ramzan and ahead of Navratri festivities
November 4, 2008:
A serving Indian Army officer Lt. Col. Prasad S. Purohit nabbed as the case assumed political colours with the BJP-Shiv Sena slamming the Congress governments in the state and Centre of political motives
Probe reveals that Purohit and the other accused arrested subsequently, were allegedly involved in other terror strikes like the Modasa blast and Malegaon blast (both 2006), Mecca Masjid blast in Hyderabad and the Samjhauta Express blast (both 2007)
January 20, 2009:
The Maharashtra ATS filed a chargesheet against the 14 accused, naming Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Purohit as the key conspirators, and pointing to the involvement of a Hindu group Abhinav Bharat
July 31, 2009:
A Mumbai Special Court dropped the MCOCA charges against all the accused
July 19, 2010:
Bombay HC reinstated the MCOCA charges against all accused
April 13, 2011:
As the probe revealed the involvement of Hindu extremist groups, leading to the coining of a term ‘saffron terror’, the NIA took over the probe, encompassing the earlier 2006-2007 terror blasts, some of which are still being investigated
April 15, 2015:
Supreme Court said that the accused could not be charged under MCOCA as there was no evidence as on date and directed the trial court to decide the bail appeals of the accused on merits without applicability of MCOCA within a month
June 24, 2015:
The then Special Public Prosecutor Rohini Salian sparked a sensation claiming she was pressurized to ‘go soft’ in the case
April 17, 2017:
The NIA said in SC it would not oppose bail for Purohit as chargesheet already filed even as the charges against Thakur and five others were dropped in 2016 after the NIA told the Special Court there was no evidence against them
April 25, 2017:
Bombay HC grants bail to Thakur, but rejected Purohit’s bail plea, and later on Aug. 21, 2017, enlarged him on bail
December 27, 2017:
Special NIA Court dropped MCOCA charges against Thakur and Purohit
October 30, 2018:
Charges framed against the seven accused
October 3, 2024:
Prime accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur’s Senior Advocate J. P. Mishra makes a sensational claim that the Malegaon 2008 blasts may have been engineered by the outlawed SIMI.
July 25, 2024:
Final hearing begins in the case before the Special NIA Court
April 19, 2025:
Special NIA Court completes hearing and Special Judge A. K. Lahoti fixes JULY 31 as judgement day for the Malegaon 2008 bomb blast case.
Comments