Mumbai, Jul 31 (PTI) The trial court’s verdict acquitting all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case on Thursday came as a second setback for the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in the last ten days.
On July 22, the Bombay High Court had acquitted 11 accused in the 2006 Mumbai serial train blasts case probed by the ATS.
The ATS had probed the Malegaon blast case in the initial stages, arresting main accused Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit among others. The investigation was later taken over by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
In the verdict pronounced on Thursday, the special court held there was no reliable evidence against the accused. The prosecution failed to establish that the explosive was planted on a motorbike, it said.
Special Judge A K Lahoti flagged several loopholes in the investigation, and said the accused deserved the benefit of doubt.
In the train blasts judgement, which came 19 years after the incident, the high court held that the prosecution utterly failed to prove its case, and it was hard to believe the accused committed the crime. The ATS filed an appeal in the Supreme Court which on July 24 stayed the operation of the judgement.
An explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in Malegaon town, located about 200 km from Mumbai, on September 29, 2008, killing six persons and injuring 101 others. The ATS arrested Pragya Singh Thakur along with Shivanarayan Kalsangra and Shyam Bhawarlal Sahoo within two days after taking over the probe on October 21, 2008, claiming that the blast was carried out by right-wing extremists.
ATS chief Hemant Karkare, under whose leadership the case was cracked, fell prey to the bullets of terrorists during the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack.
As a tribute, a road in Malegaon was named for him.
The ATS arrested a total of 12 accused while Ramji Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange were shown absconders. They remained untraceable.
The NIA took over the probe on April 13, 2012. PTI DC KRK
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