Mainstream WeeklyThe long-awaited verdict on the Malegaon blast of 2008 was delivered by a special court in Mumbai. The judgement has acquitted all seven accused in the Malegaon blasts case, which came as a blow to the victims and celebrations to the Hindutva camp. Many were anticipating this type of verdict and it was no surprise to them as during the period of last 17 years the investigating agencies did change the track, particularly after 2014. The blast was carried by a group which used a motorcycle. The RDX used in the bomb blew up at a time when the gathering of Muslims was there and killed six people and injured over one hundred people. This happened in the month of Ramadan. Former BJP MP from Bhopal Pragya Singh Thakur, the serving army officer Lt. Colonel Prasad Shrikant Purohit, Retd Major Ramesh Upadhyay were among the seven accused who were named arrested.
Initially the Malegaon blasts case was with the Maharashtra Anti-terrorism squad. Later National Investigation Agency took it over in 2011. The court observed that there is a strong suspicion about the accused being involved but prosecution has not been able to prove it beyond doubt, so all the accused are acquitted. There was a strong appreciation of the judgment from Hindu Right, they also accused the Congress for setting the narrative for saffron terror the result of which was this accusation of various people from the right wing.
There are some points of the trajectory of investigation which need to be kept in mind while making an opinion on this. Hemant Karkare, who investigated the case, began with the Motor Cycle of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, an Ex ABVP-activist. The trail led to these accused and they were arrested.
One of the early blasts in the area was the one which happened in Nanded in April 2006. In the house of Rajkondawar, a bomb exploded. The reason was that in the house a bomb was being assembled and due to some mishandling, it exploded. The incident was investigated by a Citizens inquiry team under the leadership Ex Rashtra Seva Dal President, Dr. Suresh Khairnar. Two youths, Himanshu Panse (27) and Naresh Rajkondwar (26), died on the spot and three, Yogesh Deshpande (24), Maruti Wagh (23) and Gururaj Tuptewar (25), were badly injured. The flag of Bajrang Dal was flying over the house. At the site, fake beard and moustache and pajama Kurta were also seen.
Around this time some explosions also took place in Parbhani, Panvel and Jalna. In case of Malegaon 2008 blast as Karkare was doing meticulous investigation and arresting the accused, the ally of BJP, the united Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray in his paper Saamana wrote that ,