All 7 accused acquitted in Malegaon blast case, including BJP MP Pragya Thakur

India Today

Seventeen years after the Malegaon blast in Maharashtra, a special court on Thursday acquitted all seven accused, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit. Special Judge A.K. Lahoti ruled that suspicion alone was not enough to proceed and stated that the prosecution failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt.

Transcript

00:00Mustafa, over to you now. Tell us about each accused, seven in total.

00:04All of them acquitted. Court is unable to rely on evidence.

00:07Grave suspicion. But mere suspicion cannot take the prosecution

00:11and take that case ahead. A grave incident against society had happened.

00:15Court cannot convict just on moral grounds. Prosecution had to establish

00:20evidence beyond doubt. Mustafa, go ahead.

00:26Well, that's true that since the time

00:28Special Judge A.K. Lahoki started pronouncing the judgment, he went through

00:31in conclusion and in detail. First,

00:34referring about the F.I.R. and technical details

00:36to it. Then, the

00:38police failing to establish how the motorbike

00:40was parked in a cordon-off area.

00:43Third,

00:44that the vehicle ownership

00:46is not confirmed by

00:48the prosecution evidences.

00:50Third, the prosecution evidences cannot

00:52be relied upon. Fourth,

00:54the UAPA case, the prosecution was taken

00:56not properly and hence the UAP doesn't apply to the case and hence

00:59the court has said that all this being said by the

01:02prosecution has been just a narrative. It's not been

01:04proved in evidence and hence all the seven

01:06accused have been acquitted back to you.

01:08Alright, Divyesh continues to be with us.

01:10Divyesh, what all is being said currently

01:12by the judge? Take us to the details and

01:14remember, our team is on high alert right now

01:16because these accused are going to be

01:18coming out. First reaction on from what

01:20Saadvi Pragya will say. All

01:22left-in-colonel Purohit and five others.

01:24Divyesh, over to you. All seven accused

01:26acquitted in the 2008

01:28Malagao blast case.

01:30Well, Pooja, this is

01:36huge. The

01:38case which started in 2008

01:40Saadvi Pragya Singh Chakur

01:42left-in-colonel Purohit

01:44major upadhyay. There were several others

01:46who were arrested and

01:47then the ATS, the anti-terrorism

01:50squad of Maharashtra

01:51police had termed it as

01:53saffron terror, an organization

01:55named Abhinav Bharat.

01:57So, it was being said, it was being said

01:59by the ATS that Abhinav Bharat was the

02:02organization of which all these

02:04accused were members and they had

02:06hatched the conspiracy to carry out

02:07blast, to carry out terror activity

02:09in Malagao. The blast that

02:11allegedly killed six persons, injured

02:14101 others.

02:16But now, the court

02:18after lengthy trial, after

02:20investigation by four agencies,

02:23the Nashik Rural Police,

02:24the Azad Nagar Police Station, the

02:27anti-terrorism squad, the

02:29National Investigation Agency.

02:31Investigation by four agencies,

02:33lengthy trial of 17 years and

02:36now the verdict comes out that all

02:39the seven accused are acquitted.

02:42The punch nama was faulty,

02:44the scene of crime was

02:48contaminated, police officials had

02:50coerced and taken statements

02:53using force and the witness

02:57statements, which have been, the

02:59legal witness statements, which

03:01had been relied upon, have not been

03:04considered by the court.

03:04Divya, let's quickly go through,

03:06quickly go through, let's take the

03:07three key takeaways right now from

03:09what the court has said. All seven

03:11accused have been acquitted, no

03:13evidence on record that can confirm

03:15the suspicion or the accusation that

03:17have come in against the seven

03:19accused. Let's go one by one, let's

03:20go against Lieutenant Colonel

03:21Purohit, what was said by the court

03:23then about Sadhvi Pragya and of

03:26course what it means for them as

03:27well for the 17 years that they

03:29face these serious charges. Go ahead

03:31Divyaish, let's begin first with

03:32Lieutenant Colonel Purohit, charges

03:34against him that he had provided

03:35logistical support. What did the court

03:37say to that?

03:39Well, Pooja, Lieutenant Colonel

03:41Purohit, who was an officer of

03:43military intelligence, he was

03:45arrested by the anti-terrorism

03:47squad. Even some of his colleagues

03:50gave statements against him. Their

03:52statements were taken into

03:54consideration by the anti-terrorism

03:56squad. And as per the chart sheet of

03:59anti-terrorism squad, Lieutenant Colonel

04:01Purohit brought RDX from Kashmir,

04:04brought it to Nashik Deolali, gave it to

04:07Sudhakar Chaturvedi and at his

04:10residence, the IED was prepared, the IED

04:13was made, which was used, which was

04:16allegedly used in the blast that was

04:19being said by the ATS. ATS also went on

04:22to slap charges of organized crime.

04:26MC OCA, Maharashtra, Maharashtra

04:31control of organized crime act, a

04:33stringent act, which was slapped against

04:37the seven accused. There were several

04:40other accused who were...

04:42Yes. Go ahead, Divyesh, if there's

04:45heightened activity. Yes. Mustafa

04:48continues to be with us. Mustafa, I bring

04:50you in here. First reactions coming in

04:52anytime now. Remember, what will

04:53Sadhvi Pragya Thakur say? What will

04:55Lieutenant Colonel Purohit say? They had

04:57been cautious. They didn't say much this

04:58morning when they were heading to the

05:00court. But others who have spoken up,

05:02including the two as well, seemed

05:03confident that they have not been

05:06involved and that they will be acquitted.

05:08One by one, all the names on your

05:09screen. Seven accused for 17 years

05:13faced serious charges. First from

05:14Maharashtra ATS, then from the NIA as

05:17well. Mustafa continues to be with us.

05:19So, Mustafa, you've been speaking to

05:21some of those accused, their lawyers as

05:22much. And now that they have been

05:25acquitted, first reactions coming in

05:27anytime now.

05:32Well, yes, the reactions will come out

05:35and because there was a battery of lawyers

05:36for seven accused, different lawyers and

05:39they'll be speaking in a minute. But yes,

05:41if you see the entire case, which is how

05:42it's involved, is that the Swadhi

05:44Pragya Singh Thakur's role in the blast

05:46was that the bike which allegedly on which

05:49this bomb went off that was owned by her.

05:52That's one.

05:53Lieutenant Colonel Purohit is said to be the

05:56person who provided RDX from Kashmir for

06:00this alleged incident. And the traces of

06:03which was found is what the ATS theory

06:05was that the NIA had later rejected. Again,

06:08Ramesh Upadhyaya, Sudhanshu Trivedi, there

06:10are many other peoples who said to have

06:12some from the ATS said to have recovered

06:15some electronic evidences from them. And

06:19that there was a conspiracy, there were

06:21different meetings which were taking place. But

06:23all these all these cases, all these things

06:25were not proven in court. And that's why it

06:28seems that the acquittal has come out so

06:31clearly.

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