Malegaon blast case: Court acquits all seven accused including ex-BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya and Lt Col Purohit

The NIA Court on Thursday acquitted all accused, including former BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Colonel Prasad Purohit, in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, nearly 17 years after the incident. The court also ruled that the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) could not be invoked due to defective sanction orders and pointed to serious lapses in the investigation, including the absence of crucial evidence and inconclusive forensic reports.

It also observed that samples were contaminated and inconclusive, and the prosecution failed to prove that the bike allegedly used in the blast was in Sadhvi Pragya’s possession or that explosives were stored or assembled at Lt Col Prasad Purohit’s residence.

Also Read- Malegaon bomb blast case explained: The case against Sadhvi Pragya and why the court acquitted all 7 accused

Sadhvi Pragya, Lt Col Purohit & others

Seven accused, including BJP leader and former MP Pragya Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, faced trial in the case for offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code.

Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni are the other accused in the case.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which conducted the probe into the case, hasd sought “commensurate punishment” for the accused.

The trial, which started in 2018, got over on April 19, 2025, and the case was reserved for judgement.

Malegaon blast case

Six persons were killed and more than 100 injured when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in the town, located about 200 km from Mumbai, on September 29, 2008.In its final argument, the NIA submitted that the blast in Malegaon – a town with a sizable Muslim population – was orchestrated by the conspirators to terrorise a section of Muslim community, disrupt essential services, create communal tensions, and threaten the state’s internal security.

The NIA has said that based on “relevant, admissible, cogent, trustworthy, wholly reliable and proved evidence” it “conclusively and cogently” established the crucial circumstances to form a complete chain of events.

It was established that the accused were “directly involved in the part of larger conspiracy hatched amongst themselves and (were) instrumental in causing a bomb explosion,” the prosecution contended.

Blast & trials

The blast took place during the holy month of Ramzan, just before the Navratri festival, the NIA pointed out, claiming the intention of the accused was to strike terror in a section of the Muslim community.

The case was initially probed by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) before being transferred to the NIA in 2011.

The trial in the case began in 2018 after the court framed charges against the seven accused.

The charges comprised UAPA sections 16 (committing terrorist act) and 18 (conspiring to commit terrorist act) and various IPC sections, including 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 153 (a) (promoting enmity between two religious groups).

During the trial, the prosecution presented 323 witnesses, of whom 37 turned hostile.