On September 8, 2006, four bomb blasts occurred in the town of Malegaon in Nashik. Three of these blasts took place at the Hamidiya Mosque and the Bada Kabristan complex following the Friday prayers, while the fourth blast occurred at Mushawarat Chowk. The incident resulted in the deaths of 31 people and left 312 injured.
2006 सीरियल बम धमाकों के मामले में हाईकोर्ट से सभी आरोपी बरी, तो 31 लोगों की मौत का जिम्मेदार कौन?
The Bombay High Court discharged four individuals in the 2006 Malegaon serial blasts case, dismissing all charges against them—including those related to terrorism. With this verdict, the question of who was responsible for the blasts, which claimed the lives of 31 people, remains unanswered.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Chandrashekhar and Justice Shyam Chandak allowed the appeals filed by the four accused—Rajendra Chaudhary, Dhan Singh, Manohar Ram Singh Narwaria, and Lokesh Sharma—challenging an order issued by a Special NIA Court. The Special Court had previously ordered that charges be framed against them.
The four individuals had been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) pertaining to murder and criminal conspiracy. Additionally, they were booked under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
On September 8, 2006, four bomb blasts rocked the town of Malegaon in the Nashik district. Three of these explosions occurred within the premises of the Hamidia Mosque and the Bada Kabristan (cemetery) shortly after the Friday prayers, while the fourth blast took place at Mushawarat Chowk. The incident resulted in the deaths of 31 people and left 312 others injured.
The investigation into the blasts witnessed several twists and turns. Initial investigating agencies claimed that the conspiracy was hatched by Muslim accused; however, the National Investigation Agency (NIA)—which subsequently took over the probe—stated that right-wing extremists were behind the explosions.
The initial investigation into the case was conducted by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which had arrested nine Muslim youths in connection with the matter. In its chargesheet filed in December 2006, the ATS claimed that the conspiracy to execute the blasts was hatched during a meeting held in May 2006, coinciding with the wedding of one of the accused. The case was subsequently handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in February 2007. In its supplementary chargesheet, the CBI concurred with the ATS investigation and named nine Muslim men as accused.
However, in April 2011, the NIA took over the case, claiming that right-wing extremists were behind these blasts, and arrested four accused individuals. The central agency relied on a statement given by Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the Ajmer Sharif (Rajasthan) and Mecca Masjid (Hyderabad) blast cases. According to this statement, the 2006 Malegaon blasts were carried out by individuals associated with the late right-wing activist Sunil Joshi.
Although Aseemanand later retracted this statement, the NIA, following its investigation, filed a chargesheet that gave a “clean chit” to the nine arrested Muslim accused and named these four individuals instead. In 2016, a special court discharged those nine Muslim men—a decision that the ATS challenged in the High Court. This appeal by the ATS remains pending in the High Court, and no hearings have taken place on the matter since 2019.
In September of last year, a special NIA court framed charges against the four accused individuals. Subsequently, they approached the High Court to challenge this order issued by the special court. In January of this year, while admitting the petitions, the High Court observed that a prima facie case for intervention had been established. Furthermore, the High Court stayed further proceedings in the lower court until a final verdict is reached.
In their petition to the High Court, the four accused individuals claimed that the NIA had failed to produce any evidence against them. In 2019, the High Court had granted bail to these four individuals (the current appellants), noting that they had been detained in jail for over six years without a trial. Thus, the most pressing question in the Malegaon blast case now remains: who, ultimately, is responsible for the deaths of 31 people?
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