A day after a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court acquitted all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, a fresh controversy has emerged. Milind Joshi, a key witness in the case, has come forward with serious allegations, claiming there was a deliberate attempt to politicise the investigation and fabricate evidence to arrest a senior RSS functionary.
In a statement Joshi alleged that he was subjected to custodial torture and pressured to implicate senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders, including the current Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who at the time was only a Member of Parliament.
“There was intense pressure to name Yogi Adityanath,” Joshi claimed. “In 2008, he was not the prominent figure he is today, but there was still a clear effort to falsely link him and others to what was being framed as ‘Hindu terrorism.’ I was detained and tortured. False evidence was being created.”
Joshi further revealed that although the investigation was officially being conducted by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), officers from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had also participated in the interrogations. “It was strange, some CBI officers from Delhi were questioning us, and they were extremely aggressive. I’m not sure if they had jurisdiction at the time, but they were certainly involved and used intimidating tactics,” he said.
“In 2008, Yogi Adityanath, this name was not as big as it is today. Today, he has become a global name. However, in 2008, he was just an MP, and there was considerable pressure on us to take his name. A lot of pressure was put on us for this. The case was actually being investigated by Maharashtra ATS, but a surprising thing was that some CBI officers had come from Delhi, and they were also interrogating. I am unsure whether this case fell under the CBI’s jurisdiction at the time. I don’t know anything but some CBI officers used to come from Delhi and do the interrogation, and they used to do it very rudely. The officers of Maharashtra ATS were also putting pressure. But the Delhi CBI officers used to behave very rudely and threaten us,” he revealed.
These revelations come in the wake of the court’s decision on Thursday to acquit all accused, including former BJP MP Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit, due to a lack of evidence. The court dropped all charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Arms Act, and sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Malegaon blast took place on September 29, 2008, near Bhikku Chowk mosque in the Nashik district town of Malegaon. The explosion, caused by a bomb strapped to a motorcycle, occurred during the holy month of Ramzan and just days before Navratri. It killed six people and injured over 100 in the communally sensitive region.
The investigation, initially handled by Maharashtra ATS, was transferred to the NIA in 2011. Over the course of the lengthy legal process, spanning nearly 17 years, more than 100,000 pages of documentation were presented. The trial saw 323 witnesses testify, though 34 of them turned hostile, significantly weakening the prosecution’s case.
The court, which concluded hearings in April and reserved its verdict on April 19, delivered the judgment in a packed courtroom. It also directed the government to pay Rs 2 lakh in compensation to the families of those killed and Rs 50,000 to each injured victim.
Joshi’s latest claims have sparked renewed debate about the integrity of the investigation and the possibility of political interference during the early stages of the case. Legal experts and political observers are now calling for a thorough examination of the witness’s allegations.
