SIMI could be behind Malegaon blast, Pragya's lawyer tells court

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pragya Thakur, a prime accused in the September 2008 bomb blast in Malegaon in Maharashtra alleged to have been carried out by Hindu extremists, on Thursday sought to shift the blame by claiming the explosion could have been set off by the banned Students' Islamic Movement of India.

Thakur's assertion was made during final arguments presented by her advocate JP Mishra in a special court in Mumbai hearing the 16-year-old case.

Mishra argued that an office of SIMI was located near the blast site, asserting the incident could have been an "accidental explosion" involving explosives transported by the banned group.

The blast, which occurred on September 29, 2008, killed six individuals and injured over 100 when a motorcycle rigged with explosives detonated near a mosque in Malegaon town in Nashik district, approximately 200 kilometres from Mumbai.

During the proceedings, Mishra alleged that local residents obstructed the police access to the blast site immediately following the explosion and claimed this could have been a deliberate act to shield the accused and protect individuals associated with SIMI.

Whenever there is an incident such as this, people help the police.

However, in this case, a large crowd gathered and pelted stones at police, preventing them from reaching the blast site, the advocate claimed.

"This could have been done to shield the accused. This could have been done to protect their people (belonging to SIMI)," Mishra alleged.

The prosecution has maintained that Thakur, along with co-accused, including Lt Col Prasad Purohit, conspired to orchestrate the blast, with the motorcycle identified as belonging to the BJP leader.

Notably, the court had previously ordered the former BJP Lok Sabha member from Bhopal, who is currently out on bail, to attend the hearing, but she was absent on Thursday.

Mishra further contended that the charges framed by the court did not assign specific roles to any of the accused, indicating gaps in the prosecution's case.

He is expected to continue his arguments on Friday.

The 2008 blast in Malegaon was not an isolated incident.

It occurred two years after a similar attack in the communally sensitive town on September 8, 2006, which killed 37 people.

In the 2006 case, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad had arrested nine Muslim men allegedly linked to SIMI, claiming the blast aimed to incite communal tension.

While one of them died awaiting trial, in 2016 a special court discharged the remaining eight citing lack of evidence and labelling them as "scapegoats".

The 2006 Malegaon blast probe was later handed over to the National Investigation Agency, which subsequently arrested four individuals -- identified as Dhan Singh, Lokesh Sharma, Manohar Narwaria and Rajendra Chaudhary -- in 2013. They were granted bail in 2019.

In the ongoing trial for the 2008 incident, besides Thakur, other accused include Lt Col Purohit, Major Ramesh Upadhyay (retired), and several others, all charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, an anti-terror act, and the Indian Penal Code.

The case, initially investigated by the ATS, was transferred to the NIA in 2011.

The special court framed charges against the accused in October 2018, and throughout the trial, 323 prosecution witnesses were examined, with 34 of them turning hostile.