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The case had gained great attention due to the personalities arraigned as accused. It comprised former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit.
Pragya Singh Thakur and Col. Purohit
A special NIA court in Mumbai on Thursday acquitted all seven suspects including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit in the 2008 Malegaon explosion case [National Investigation Agency v Pragyasingh Chandrapalsingh Thakur and Ors].
The order was delivered by Special Judge AK Lahoti, who concluded that the prosecution failed to provide any 'cogent evidence' to substantiate the responsibility of the defendants.
The case had gained great attention due to the personalities arraigned as accused. It comprised former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit.
Besides them, Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sudhakar Dwivedi were the other suspects who underwent trial.
While a comprehensive copy of the verdict is awaited, the court spelled out the following grounds for acquitting Thakur and Purohit:
Pragya Singh Thakur
The Prosecution failed to prove that the bike on which the bomb was reportedly mounted, belonged to her. Serial number of the two-wheeler's chassis was not completely recovered by the forensic experts and, consequently, the prosecution failed to prove that Thakur was the owner of the two-wheeler in question;
- Thakur had become a sanyasi and had left all material things two years before the bomb;
- No evidence of conspiracy with other suspects.
Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit
- There was no evidence to indicate that he acquired RDX from Kashmir or that he manufactured the device;
- Although there were financial transactions between Purohit and another accused Ajay Rahirkar as officials of Abhinav Bharat, the money was utilized by Purohit simply towards the construction of his house and LIC policy and not for any terrorist activities;
- No evidence of conspiracy with other suspects.
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