Abhinav Bharat Not Banned, Govt Yet To Declare It Terror Outfit, Says Court

A special court that acquitted seven persons in the 2008 Malegaon blast case debunked the prosecution's claims that right-wing extremist group Abhinav Bharat had carried out the blast, noting that the government has not banned the organisation as a terror outfit.

- OUR CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI:

Special Judge A K Lahoti, in the over 1,000-page judgment, noted that the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in its investigation claimed that the accused persons were all members of Abhinav Bharat, which was an organised crime syndicate.

The judge held that the outfit has not been declared a terrorist organisation to date by the Central government, and "even the Abhinav Bharat Trust or sanstha or sanghatana or foundation is not a banned organisation".