Political row erupts over Malegaon blast verdict

Following the acquittal of all accused in the Malegaon blast case, the BJP on Thursday accused the Congress of having concocted the theory of "Hindu terror" during its tenure in power, allegedly to thwart the political rise of Narendra Modi, who was then the Chief Minister of Gujarat.

- RAJESH KUMAR THAKUR, ANURAAG SINGH, SUDHIR SURYAWANSHI & NAMITA BAJPAI New Delhi/Bhopal/Mumbai/Lucknow

The BJP claimed the Congress devised this narrative as part of a strategy to appease Muslim voters. "The Congress can go to any extent in its vote bank politics," stated former Law Minister and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad at a media briefing. He demanded an apology to the nation from former Congress presidents Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.

Prasad demanded that those discharged from the case, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Colonel Prasad Purohit, be compensated adequately.

Thakur supporters celebrate. In Bhopal, supporters of Pragya Thakur danced and distributed sweets after hearing the verdict. They want a grand celebration after Thakur returns from Mumbai to her B-29, Bungalows residence in a couple of days.

Five kilometers away, supporters burst crackers outside the residence of former CM Uma Bharti at 6, Shyamala Hills. She turned emotional, recounting her meeting with Thakur while the latter was incarcerated.

Bharti recalled, "I met Pragya at the Nashik Jail, when no one went there to meet her. A Maharashtra police officer had told me that she was tortured unimaginably. I was in tears while meeting her and still remember her confirming that she had been tortured beyond imagination."