Mumbai, July 31 (IANS) The acquittal of all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case on Thursday marks the end of a case which saw the coining of a new term ‘Hindu terror’ and its effective junking by the Special NIA Court in Mumbai.

The 17-year-long trial witnessed several twists, with three charge sheets, including a supplementary one, being filed by two probe agencies: the ATS, Maharashtra, and the NIA. Both agencies added new contours to the prosecution theory at crucial stages and frequently included and dropped witnesses.

Key facts, developments and dates related to the case:

September 29, 2008: Six killed in Malegaon after a bomb strapped to a motorcycle explodes, sparking riots

Accused: Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, former BJP MP from Bhopal; Lt. Col. Prasad Shrikant Purohit, then serving officer in Military Intelligence; Major (Retd) Ramesh Upadhyay; Ajay Rahirkar; Sudhakar Dwivedi; Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni

Charges: Conspiracy, murder, and use of explosives under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Arms Act, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC)

Genesis of ‘Hindu terror’: The ATS led by Hemant Karkare claimed that the blast was carried out by individuals linked to right-wing Hindu extremist groups – leading to the coining of the term ‘Hindu terror’

October 2008: ATS arrests Sadhvi Pragya, Purohit; both accused of links to Abhinav Bharat, which planned the ‘revenge attack’ on Muslims

November 2008: The Motorcycle used in the blast was collected as evidence. And Karkare was killed in the 26/11 attack

January 2009: First chargesheet filed by ATS, 11 accused named

July 2009: Special Court drops MCOCA charges against accused

July 2010: Bombay High Court reinstates MCOCA charges

April 2011: NIA takes over the case

2016-2017: NIA files supplementary chargesheet, drops MCOCA charges but retains terror charges; accuses ATS of planting evidence

2017: Purohit gets bail in the Supreme Court; HC grants bail to Sadhvi Pragya

October 2018: Charges formally framed against seven accused

Dec 2018: Trial begins officially in the Special NIA Court

September 2023: Prosecution closes argument after examining 323 witnesses, 37 of whom turned hostile

April 19, 2025: Final arguments conclude, Special NIA Court in Mumbai reserves judgment

July 31, 2025: Special NIA Court acquits all seven accused who were on bail, orders Maharashtra government to pay Rs 2 lakh compensation to those killed, Rs 50,000 to the injured

NIA Special Judge Abhay Lohati’s quote: Prosecution proved that a blast occurred in Malegaon, but failed to prove that a bomb was placed in a motorcycle

Grounds for acquittal: Benefit of the doubt given to the accused; the prosecution failed to prove that the motorcycle belonged to Sadhvi Pragya and that Lt. Colonel Purohit planted the bomb in it

Key turning point: Prosecution failed to prove that the accused held meetings in Bhopal, Faridabad, and other locations where the idea of forming a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ and launching attacks was discussed

–IANS

rch/dan