New Delhi/Mumbai: The acquittal of all seven accused in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case by a special NIA court has sparked political uproar, with senior Opposition leaders questioning the investigative process and the government’s handling of the case.
Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan stated that the onus of providing evidence lay with the Union government and the National Investigation Agency (NIA). “The Maharashtra ATS (anti-terrorism squad) probed the blast case and filed chargesheet. In 2011, the NIA took over the case and in 2014 the government changed (in the state and Centre). If these accused weren’t the culprits, the government from 2014 to 2025 didn’t investigate but continued the case. If it was a fake case, it could have been dropped and reinvestigated,” he said.
“Someone has killed innocent people,” Chavan asserted. “The government owes it to citizens to find out the actual culprits,” he added, emphasising that it was the state and central governments’ duty to furnish evidence.
AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi also questioned the outcome and called for a review. “Will the Modi government and the Maharashtra government challenge the verdict in Supreme Court? Or will they continue their hypocrisy on terrorism?” he said, pointing to flaws in the probe. “First, the Mumbai ATS under Hemant Karkare probed the case, and then it went to the NIA. The investigation was deeply flawed. Despite the NIA saying military-grade RDX was used, no accountability has been fixed as to where that RDX came from,” he said.
Owaisi further remarked: “Who carried out the Samjhauta blast? Who was behind Mecca Masjid, Ajmer, and Mumbai train blasts? Even in the 2006 Malegaon case, Muslims were arrested and brutally tortured. They were later discharged. So who really did it?” He added, “There cannot be two approaches to terrorism. There has been no closure for the families of the victims, whether it’s Malegaon, Samjhauta, Mumbai, or Mecca Masjid.” Congress leader Digvijay Singh said: “Neither can a Hindu be a terrorist, nor a Muslim, Sikh or Christian,” while rejecting claims that the term “Hindu terror” was coined by his party. “Every religion is an embodiment of love, goodwill, truth, and non-violence,” he added.
The Maharashtra Congress questioned CM Devendra Fadnavis’s reaction and asked whether the government would appeal the verdict.