A special court in Mumbai, in its judgment acquitting all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, has rejected claims made by a former Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officer that he was ordered to arrest RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. Special NIA Judge A. K. Lahoti, in his 1,036-page judgment, stated that the court did not find any merit in the contentions raised by the advocate for accused Sudhakar Dwivedi, who had relied on the claims made by Mehboob Mujawar, a former ATS officer.
Mujawar had claimed that senior ATS officers had ordered him to arrest Bhagwat to establish the existence of "saffron terror". He stated that he refused to obey these orders because he found no evidence linking Bhagwat to the alleged offense. The court, however, dismissed the defense lawyer's argument, citing a statement from ACP Mohan Kulkarni, the then chief investigating officer, who said that Mujawar was never asked to arrest any RSS member but was only sent to trace two absconding accused, Ramji Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange.
The special NIA court highlighted that Mujawar first made this claim in 2016 before a Solapur court in a case registered against him. The court noted that this statement was Mujawar's defense in that particular case and was not presented as testimony in the Malegaon blast case. Judge Lahoti concluded that the documents submitted by the defense lawyer, including a certified copy of an application and a statement given by Mujawar in a separate case, did not provide sufficient evidence to support the claim. The court emphasized that Mujawar was not examined as a witness in the Malegaon blast case, and therefore, his prior statements could not be considered as evidence in this trial.
The 2008 Malegaon blast case has been a subject of intense scrutiny and controversy for nearly 17 years. On September 29, 2008, a bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded near a mosque in Malegaon, Maharashtra, killing six people and injuring over 100. The incident occurred during the holy month of Ramadan, just before the Hindu festival of Navratri, in a communally sensitive town.
The case was initially investigated by the Maharashtra ATS, which arrested the accused and filed the first charge sheet. In 2011, the investigation was transferred to the NIA, which filed a supplementary charge sheet in 2016, dropping charges against some accused, including Sadhvi Pragya, due to insufficient evidence under anti-terror laws.
On Thursday, the special NIA court acquitted all seven accused, including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt Col Prasad Purohit, Major (Retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi, and Sameer Kulkarni. The court cited a lack of sufficient evidence to prove the charges against them under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Arms Act, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The court noted that the prosecution failed to establish that the explosive was placed on the motorcycle allegedly belonging to Thakur.
During the trial, the prosecution examined 323 witnesses, but 34 of them turned hostile, significantly weakening the prosecution's case. The court also observed inconsistencies and contradictions in the evidence presented. Special Judge A.K. Lahoti stated that the prosecution had failed to present concrete evidence linking the accused to the blasts and that the use of UAPA in this case was also defective. The court also highlighted that terrorism has no religion and that convictions cannot be based merely on perception or moral evidence but must be supported by cogent evidence.
The NIA court's decision to acquit the accused has sparked mixed reactions. While some have welcomed the verdict, others have expressed disappointment and vowed to challenge the acquittals in higher courts. Advocate Shahid Nadeem, representing the victims' families, stated that they would independently appeal the acquittals in the High Court, emphasizing that the bomb blast itself was proven by the court.
