Malegaon Bomb Blast

The Bombay High Court on Thursday issued notices to the seven persons acquitted in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, on an appeal filed by the family members of the victims. A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad also issued notices to the prosecution -- National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Maharashtra government -- and posted the appeal for hearing after six weeks. The HC was hearing an appeal filed by the family members of the six persons who lost their lives in the blast against the acquittal judgment. The appeal challenged a special court judgment acquitting the seven accused in the case, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit. The appeal filed last week claimed that a faulty investigation or some defects in the probe cannot be the grounds for acquitting the accused. It also contended that the conspiracy (of the blast) was hatched in secrecy and hence, there cannot be direct evidence of it. The petitioners clai

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday adjourned the hearing on an appeal against the acquittal of seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon blast case over incomplete details submitted about the appellant family members of victims. The seven accused acquitted in the case included former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit. Earlier, the HC on Tuesday said it was "not an open gate for everyone" to file an appeal against acquittal in the blast case, and sought details if the victims' family members were examined as witnesses in the trial. On Wednesday, the appellants' lawyer submitted a chart of the details, but the bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam Ankhad said it was incomplete. The family members' lawyer told the bench that the first appellant, Nisar Ahmed, whose son died in the blast, was not a witness in the trial. Ahmed was, however, allowed by the special court to intervene and assist the prosecution during the trial, he said. The lawyer add

Almost 17 years after a blast killed six persons and left more than 100 injured in Maharashtra's communally sensitive Malegaon town, a special NIA court is likely to deliver its verdict in the case on Thursday. Seven accused, including BJP leader and former MP Pragya Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, faced trial in the case for offences under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code. Major (retired) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi and Sameer Kulkarni are the other accused in the case. The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which conducted the probe into the case, has sought "commensurate punishment" for the accused. The trial, which started in 2018, got over on April 19, 2025, and the case was reserved for judgement. Six persons were killed and more than 100 injured when an explosive device strapped to a motorcycle went off near a mosque in the town, located about 200 km from Mumbai, on September 29, 2008. I

The opposition has criticised Thakur's nomination to the defence consultative committee on the grounds that she is facing charges of terrorist activities

NIA said that statements of some of the witnesses and some confessional statements were untraceable

The 2006 Malegaon blasts that took place in a mosque, graveyard and a market, left 37 dead and over a 100 injured