Malegaon blast case: ATS, NIA at odds with each other during investigation

Mumbai: When the powerful blast shook Malegaon on 29 September 2008, the police had various theories in hand. However, an LML Freedom motorbike gave initial clues and helped the investigators connect the dots.

The Navratri-eve blast coinciding with the month of Ramzan just two days before Eid, on 29 September, 2008 claimed the lives of six persons and injured 101 others at Malegaon in Nashik district of Maharashtra.

2 years before the 2008 blasts, Malegaon was rocked by a chain of three explosions in Bada Kabarasthan, Mushawra Chowk and Hamidiya Masjid on 8 September, 2006 that claimed 37 lives and injured 312.

The second Malegaon blast case was handed over by the Nashik Rural Police  to the Anti Terrorism Squad.

The then Special Inspector General of Police Hemant Karkare, who had a stint with R&AW was heading the probe. However, the ATS (Anti terrorist squad) probe received a jolt when Karkare laid down his life during the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai in November 2008.

A few years later, in December 2020 the case was handed over to the NIA (National Investigation Agency).

When the Special Court of NIA acquitted the seven accused who faced trial, it is clear as day that the ATS and NIA were not on the same page on many aspects of investigation. Rather, it seems NIA was contradicting ATS' theory.

NIA Court’s Special Judge Abhay Lahoti — for “lack of evidence” — acquitted former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur alias Swami Purnachetanand Giri, former Military Intelligence official Lt Col Prasad Purohit (Retd) and Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi alias Dayanand Pandey alias Swami Amrutanand Devtirth, a self-proclaimed Shankaracharya, Maj Ramesh Upadhyaya (Retd), Sameer Kulkarni alias Chanakya Sameer, Ajay alias Raja Rahirkar, and Sudhakar Onkarnath Chaturvedi alias Chanakya Sudhakar.

While five others in the case were discharged in 2017, two others Ramji Kalsangra and Sandeep Dange, both residents of Indore and believed to have planted the bomb, are still absconding. On the other hand, a former police official, Mahiboob Mujawar had claimed that the duo were killed in police custody.

It may be mentioned, during the initial states of investigations, the ATS involved the provisions of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), however, the NIA dropped the charges.

Though the ATS claimed that Thakur was the key conspirator, the NIA recommended exonerating her as there was not much evidence against her.

Besides, the NIA did not find much evidence against Col Purohit.

As far as the LML Freedom bike is concerned, the NIA could not connect it to Pragya Singh.