A month after a special NIA court acquitted all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) remains undecided on whether to appeal the verdict. The agency has stated that it is still reviewing the detailed judgment to determine the grounds on which the accused were acquitted.

The 2008 Malegaon blast case pertains to an explosion that occurred on September 29, 2008, in Malegaon, Maharashtra, killing six people and injuring several others. A bomb placed inside a motorcycle exploded at Bhikhu Chowk, leading to investigations by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS). In 2011, the NIA took over the investigation.

Following the NIA court's verdict, Special Public Prosecutor Avinash Rasal, representing the NIA, said that a decision on filing an appeal would be made after reviewing the judgment copy. An NIA official stated that they have not yet received the judgment copy to ascertain the grounds for the acquittals. Once the order copy is perused and the reasons are analyzed, the agency will decide on the next course of action.

Meanwhile, a lawyer representing the victims' families has criticized the NIA's handling of the case, calling the acquittals a "significant failure". Advocate Shahid Nadeem stated that the NIA did not pursue perjury charges against witnesses who turned hostile during the trial, despite requests from the victims. He also claimed that the NIA could have performed better if it had prioritized the concerns of the victims. Nadeem said that the relatives of the victims are determined to seek justice and will file an independent appeal in the Bombay High Court after reviewing the judgment.

During the trial, 37 out of 323 prosecution witnesses did not support the prosecution's case and were declared hostile. The NIA had dropped the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) sections applied by the ATS, deeming its application "questionable". The NIA had also sought to drop Pragya Singh Thakur as an accused, citing a lack of evidence against her and the inadmissibility of certain witness statements after MCOCA was dropped. However, the special court had stated that there was prima facie evidence against her to warrant a trial.

The seven accused who were acquitted include Pragya Singh Thakur, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sameer Kulkarni, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, and Sudhakar Dhardwivedi.

Imtiaz Jaleel, a former All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MLA from Maharashtra, has urged the state to promptly appeal against the acquittals, drawing a parallel to the state's earlier appeal against the acquittal of accused in the Mumbai train blasts.