The long road to verdict: Five judges, two agencies, ‘go soft’ allegation & a 17-yr wait

Mumbai: The trial in the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case, which stretched over nearly 17 years, witnessed not only a change in investigating agencies but also five different judges presiding over various stages of the proceedings.

A special court on Thursday acquitted all seven accused, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, noting there was “no reliable and cogent evidence” against them.

The investigation was initially conducted by the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which had pinned the blame on right-wing extremists who were members of ‘Abhinav Bharat’ group.

The probe was later handed over to the NIA, which gave a clean chit to Thakur. However, the court conducted the trial against her, citing prima facie evidence.

From the initial remand of the accused to the filing of charge sheets, framing of charges, commencement of trial, and finally the verdict, the case passed through the hands of five judges between 2008 and 2025.

Both the victims of the blast and the accused cited this frequent change of judges as a significant factor in derailing the trial and contributing to the prolonged delay.

Advocate Shaheed Nadeem, who represented several victims, acknowledged that the repeated transfer of judges had indeed hampered the trial.

The first judge to preside over the case was Special Judge Y.D. Shinde. He handled the initial remand of the accused, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit, and others.

In a significant ruling, Judge Shinde set aside the invocation of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA), observing that none of the accused were part of an organised crime syndicate.

However, the Bombay High Court later reinstated the application of MCOCA following an appeal by the state government.

Following Shinde, special judge S.D. Tekale presided over the case from 2015 to 2018 until his transfer during annual judicial postings. It was Judge Tekale who rejected the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) move to grant a clean chit to Thakur, asserting that there was prima facie evidence warranting her trial.

After Tekale, special judge V.S. Padalkar took over and, in October 2018, formally framed charges against Thakur, Purohit, and five others. The trial officially began under his tenure with the examination of the first witness.

Judge P.R. Sitre succeeded Padalkar after his retirement in 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the trial to a temporary standstill. Despite the challenges, Judge Sitre managed to examine 100 witnesses during his tenure of just over a year.

In 2022, when Sitre was slated for transfer, victims of the blast wrote to the then Bombay High Court Chief Justice Dipankar Datta, urging that the transfer be stayed to avoid further delays.

Following Sitre’s transfer, special judge A.K. Lahoti took over the trial in June 2022. Till April 2025, Judge Lahoti continued the trial.

In April, when he was slated for transfer to Nashik, the victims again wrote to the then HC Chief Justice seeking a stay on the transfer as the trial was nearing completion.

Responding to their plea, Judge Lahoti’s tenure as special NIA judge was extended until the end of August 2025, allowing him to complete the trial.

The ‘go soft’ allegation

The NIA took over the case in 2011, three years after the blast, but filed a chargesheet only in 2016. In its chargesheet filed in April 2016, the agency under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs submitted that no additional evidence could be collected from the crime scene. The NIA chargesheet did not include any new witnesses, but instead, included re-recorded statements of some of the witnesses, who denied their previous statements.

Before the chargesheet was filed, in a 2015 interview with The Indian Express, then special public prosecutor Rohini Salian had said she was under pressure from the NIA to “go soft” in the case. The NIA, however, denied the allegation.