Malegaon blast case: Bombay High Court discharges 4 accused, quashes all charges

The NIA, which later took over the case, claimed the blasts were the handiwork of right-wing extremists and arrested these four accused.

Mumbai: Nearly two decades after bombs ripped through the Muslim community-dominated powerloom town of Malegaon in Nashik district, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday discharged four people - the last remaining accused in the sensational 2006 blasts case - effectively bringing the trial in one of the most-sensitive terrorism cases to a close.

The four discharged are Rajendra Chaudhary, Dhan Singh, Manohar Ram Singh Narwaria and Lokesh Sharma. They had been on bail since 2019.

On September 8, 2006, three blasts - coinciding with the Shab-e-Baraat festival - at Bada Kabrastan, Mushawra Chowk and Hamidiya Masjid claimed 37 lives and injured 312 others.

A division bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Shyam C Chandak set aside the September 30, 2025 order of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court that had framed charges against them. The detailed order is awaited.

The accused had been booked under provisions of the Indian Penal Code for murder and criminal conspiracy, as well as under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The case saw multiple twists over the past two decades and remained inconclusive. The FIR was initially registered by the Nashik Rural Police.

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which first probed the case, arrested nine Muslim men, alleging that the conspiracy had been hatched earlier that year.

The case was later handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which supported the ATS findings in a supplementary chargesheet. However, in 2011, the NIA took over the probe and presented a different theory, attributing the blasts to right-wing extremists.

The four accused discharged on Wednesday were arrested after Swami Aseemanand, an accused in several other blast cases, made a statement alleging their role in the Malegaon blasts.

Aseemanand, who was also an accused in cases such as the Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid and Ajmer Sharif blasts, was later acquitted, with courts terming his confession unreliable.

The NIA’s case relied heavily on his purported 2010 confession, in which he allegedly claimed that an associate, Sunil Joshi (since deceased), told him the Malegaon blasts were carried out by “his boys”. Aseemanand later retracted the confession, alleging coercion.

The defence argued before the High Court that there were no eyewitnesses linking the accused to the blasts and that the prosecution’s case rested on a confession already discredited by multiple courts.

It may be recalled that following the blasts, the ATS had arrested nine persons - Noor-Ul-Hooda Samshudoha Ansari, Shabbir Ahmed Masiullah alias Batterywala, Raees Ahmed, Dr Salman Farsi, Dr Farooq Maghdumi, Mohammed Ali, Mohammed Zahid alias Zahid Ali, Asif Bashir Khan alias Junaid, and Abrar Ahmed Saeed.

On April 25, 2016, a special court under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) discharged eight of the nine accused.

Abrar Saeed had turned approver in the case.

With this order, no accused remain to face trial in the 2006 Malegaon blasts case, which has been marked by shifting investigative narratives and prolonged legal proceedings.