In a highly anticipated judgment, the National Investigating Agency (NIA) court on Thursday, July 31, 2025, delivered a verdict in the 2008 Malegaon blast case after 17 years. The court has acquitted all seven accused in the Malegaon blast case, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh and Lt Col. Purohit. The accused have been acquitted of all charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Arms Act, and other charges.
The court said that the families of all six victims of the blast will be given Rs 2 lakh, and the injured will be provided with compensation of Rs 50,000. While the prosecution proved that a blast occurred in Malegaon, it failed to prove that a bomb was placed in the motorcycle linked to the blast. The court has concluded that the injured people were not 101 but 95, and that the medical certificates were manipulated.
The court also highlighted several lapses in the investigation of the case and gaps in the prosecution’s evidence. It stated, “There is no evidence of storing or assembling the explosives in Shrikant Prasad Purohit’s residence. No sketch of the spot was done by the investigation officer while doing the panchnama. No fingerprint, dump data, or anything else was collected for the spot. The samples were contaminated, so the reports can’t be conclusive and are not reliable. The bike allegedly involved in the blast did not have a clear chassis number. Prosecution could not prove that it was in Sadhvi Pragya’s possession immediately before the blast.”
After being acquitted, Lt Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit, in his initial response, thanked the Court. He said, “I thank you for giving me a chance to serve my nation and my organisation with the same conviction that I was doing before me being framed in this matter. I don’t blame any organisation for all this. Organisations like investigating agencies are not wrong, but people inside the organisations are the ones who have done wrong. I thank you for restoring the faith of the common man in the system…”
However, one of the Victims’ families’ lawyer, Advocate Shahid Nadeem, said that they will challenge the NIA court’s acquittal of all accused in the High Court. Meanwhile, delivering its verdict, the Court observed, “Terrorism has no religion because no religion can advocate violence. The Court cannot convict anyone merely on perception and moral evidence; there has to be cogent evidence.”
“UAPA will not be invoked in this case as the sanction was not taken as per the rules. Both the sanction orders of the UAPA in the case are defective,” the Court added.
About The 2008 Malegaon Blast Case
On September 29, 2008, six people were killed and many were injured after an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle exploded near a mosque in Nashik’s Malegaon.
