Mumbai: After nearly two decades of legal proceedings, a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai on Thursday acquitted all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, observing that mere suspicion cannot replace real proof and that there was no cogent or reliable evidence to warrant conviction.

No religion teaches violence, the court said. Terrorism has no religion, but the court cannot convict on mere perception, it observed.

Delivering the verdict in one of India’s longest-running terror trials, Special Judge AK Lahoti noted that the prosecution failed to establish a consistent chain of evidence connecting the accused to the crime. 

There is also no evidence to prove that explosive substances were transported or stored by Lt Colonel Prasad Purohit in his house or that he had assembled the bomb, the court said.

The judge also held that provisions of the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) were not applicable to the case as there was no proper application of mind before grant of sanction for the same.

The court further said it was not established that the motorbike used in the blast was registered in the name of Thakur, as claimed by the prosecution.

"The prosecution has proved that the blast took place but could not prove that the explosive was fitted in the motor bike," it observed.

On the prosecution's case that the accused persons had attended several meetings in Bhopal and Nashik where the conspiracy for the blast was hatched, the court said no witness has supported this theory and hence, neither the meeting nor the conspiracy hatched could be proved.

While there is evidence to show that money was distributed by right wing group 'Abhinav Bharat', there is no evidence to prove that the same was used to fund terrorist activities, the court observed.

The money seems to have been used by Purohit for the construction of his house, it added.
The blast, which occurred near a mosque in Malegaon’s Bhikku Chowk on September 29, 2008, claimed six lives and left over 100 injured. Originally investigated by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), the case was transferred to the NIA in 2011 amid political controversy and claims of a biased probe.

The court acquitted all seven accused, including BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Purohit, Major (Retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, and Sameer Kulkarni.

With PTI inputs