Malegaon Blast Verdict: 17 Years On, Court To Decide Fate Of Pragya Thakur, Lt Col Purohit

Mumbai: The special NIA court is set to give its verdict on Thursday, July 31 in the 2008 Malegaon blast case against the seven accused. These seven accused included former BJP MP Pragya Thakur and serving army officer Lt Col Prasad Purohit.

Six Killed, Over 100 Injured In 2008 Blast

On September 29, 2008, a bomb planted on a motorcycle went off in Malegaon, killing six persons and injuring 101. The Maharashtra anti-terrorism squad had later arrested 11 persons for their alleged roles in the blasts. However a decade later only seven were put to trial and others were discharged.

Accused Include MP Pragya Thakur & Army Officer Purohit

The court after evaluating the evidence presented by ATS as well as NIA, which took over the case later, framed charges against the accused in October 2018, ten years after the blast. These seven accused are - Thakur, Purohit, Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sudhakar Dwivedi alias Swami Amritunand Devtirth.

Prosecution Examined 323 Witnesses In Trial

The trial was concluded in July last year, with the prosecution presenting testimony from 323 witnesses and submitting approximately 9,997 documents and 404 articles as evidence during the trial. Out of the 323 witnesses, 34 did not support the prosecution’s case and were declared hostile.

Controversies Marked The 17-Year Case

Since the 17 years the case has been through many controversies from applicability of charges of MCOCA, to allegations of torture by the police; from missing confession statements to many key witnesses turning hostile; and from an accused becoming a member of parliament to a public prosecutor receiving threat to 'go slow' on the case.

‘Saffron Terror’ Term Coined After Thakur’s Arrest

The prosecution case began with the arrest of Pradnya Singh Thakur on October 23, 2008 along with her two associates Shivnarayan Kalsagra and Shyam Sahu, the ATS came up with the term 'Saffron Terror'. ATS claimed that the bike which was used to plant the bomb belonged to Thakur and her key associate, Ramji Kalsangra had planted the bike at the spot.

Thakur however, maintains that she had given up the bike, but the prosecution claimed that it was still under her control. With this the ATS claimed that the blast was planned as a revenge against the 'Muslim' community. Thakur however claimed that she was detained illegally days before she was officially shown arrested and tortured by the ATS officers to confess to the crime.

The prosecution has claimed that Thakur was part of the organisation 'Abhinav Bharat' and is said to have taken responsibility of the task of revenge in one of the several meetings held of the members of the party. The organization was allegedly floated by Purohit, even when he was serving in the army, the prosecution has claimed.

Purohit Claims Intelligence Role

Purohit however, has in his defence claimed that he was performing his duty as a military intelligence officer to collect more intel into the 'Saffron Terror module'. He claimed that he had informed all his superior officers about his work and all the activities he is accused of was part of his operation and he was successful in infiltrating the Hindu extremist organization. Significantly the army had filed an affidavit that Purohit was conducting himself as a part of his official duty and that his superiors were in the loop at every stage.

The prosecution however claimed that Purohit was as much involved in the module wherein he had collected huge funds and used to finance alleged illegal activities of the organisation.

According to the prosecution, Purohit had brought RDX with him from Kashmir after completing his posting and he had kept the same in his cupboard at his house.

As per the prosecution case, Pravin Takkalki and absconding accused Ramji alias Ramchandra Gopalsingh Kalsangra, Sandip Dange, on the instructions of Thakur, planted the explosive device by using LML Freedom Motor Cycle.

Purohit, however, has also challenged the fact that people died and were injured due to the blast. It is alleged that there was no casualty due to the blast but people died in the riots and chaos that took place after the blast. It was pointed out that a separate case of rioting was also lodged wherein people stole weapons from the police station.

Apart from the blast, the case of prosecution revolved around the setting up of Abhinav Bharat, which it claimed was done to form a Hindu Rashtra in India. The prosecution claimed that the idea to carry out the blast originated in one of the secret meetings of Abhinav Bharat.

Prosecution Alleges Hindu Rashtra Plot

It is contended that Purohit had suggested to carry out an act which would bring attention to the organisation and also suggested to take revenge and Thakur took responsibility of it.

The object of the accused persons was to turn India into a Hindu Rashtra called Aryavart. They wanted to form a Government in exile and wanted to prepare their own Constitution.

Key Meeting Recordings Cited As Evidence

They had planned to train the persons for guerrilla war and decided to kill the persons opposing their object of formation of Hindu Rashtra which is against the secular policy of the Government. According to the prosecution most of the accused persons from time to time held meetings to discuss various aspects for achieving their goals.

The prosecution has claimed that Upadhyay was made a president of the organisation while Rahirkar was its treasurer. Rest of the accused were members and part of the alleged conspiracy. The accused however, have denied the allegations and also challenged the formation of Abhinav Bharat.

Malegaon Bomb Blast Accused LT Col Prasad Purohit Alleges Torture By Hemant Karkare And Parambir Singh In Written Statement

However, the prosecution claimed that the meetings were recorded by Dayanand Pandey alias Swami Amritanand alias Sudhakar Dwivedi, which became crucial evidence for the prosecution.