Court Acquits All 7 Accused in Malegaon Blast

Seventeen years after the 2008 Malegaon bomb blast that killed six persons, a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Thursday acquitted all seven accused, including BJP leader and former Lok Sabha MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Colonel Prasad Purohit.

- SUDHIR SURYAWANSHI @ Mumbai

Pronouncing the verdict, Judge A K Lahoti stated, "Terror has no religion because no religion can advocate violence... So, the judgment cannot be based on moral and public perceptions."

Significantly, NIA special public prosecutor Rohini Salian had in 2015 resigned claiming that the agency was going out of its way to water down the case and had been given standing instructions to go easy on the 'Hindu terror' accused.