The ruling has left unanswered the question of who was responsible for the explosions that killed 37 people, besides causing injuries to about 300 others
MUMBAI — The Bombay High Court on Wednesday quashed and set aside a special court order framing charges against four accused in the 2006 Malegaon bomb blast case. The ruling has left unanswered the question of who was responsible for the explosions that killed 37 people, besides causing injuries to about 300 others.
A division bench led by Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar delivered the verdict while allowing appeals filed by Rajendra Chaudhary, Lokesh Sharma, Dhan Singh and Manohar Ram Singh Narwaria.
The court had earlier observed that a prima facie case existed for interference with the order of the special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court.
The four had been charged with offences including murder and criminal conspiracy under the IPC, along with provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, following a September 30, 2025, order by the special court. Wednesday’s ruling effectively halts proceedings against them at this stage.
During the hearings, the defence argued that there was no credible evidence linking the accused to the blasts. They highlighted the absence of eyewitnesses, the lack of recovery of incriminating materials, and weak forensic findings. Notably, the NIA also told the court that no eyewitnesses were available in the case.
The defence further questioned the reliability of a Test Identification Parade conducted more than six years after the incident, calling such delays a serious blow to witness credibility. They also pointed out that soil samples from a site in Madhya Pradesh, where explosives were allegedly prepared, did not contain traces of RDX.
On September 8, 2006, four bombs exploded in Nashik district’s Malegaon town in Maharashtra, three inside the premises of Hamidia Masjid and Bada Kabrastan just after Friday prayers, and the fourth in Mushawarat Chowk.
The probe into the blasts witnessed several twists and turns, with the initial investigating agencies claiming that the conspiracy was hatched by a Muslim accused, but the NIA, which later probed the case, said right-wing extremists were behind the powerful explosions.
Maharashtra’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which initially probed the case, had arrested nine Muslim men in connection with the case.
The ATS, in its chargesheet filed in December 2006, claimed that the conspiracy to trigger blasts was hatched during a meeting held at the wedding of one of the accused in May 2006.
The case was later transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in February 2007, which, in its supplementary chargesheet, agreed with the ATS probe and named the nine Muslim men as accused.
However, in April 2011, the NIA took over the case and claimed that the blasts were the handiwork of right-wing extremists and arrested the four accused.
The central agency relied on a statement made by Swami Aseemanand, an accused in the Ajmer Sharif (Rajasthan) and Mecca Masjid (Hyderabad) blasts case. He said the Malegaon blasts were carried out by men of the deceased right-wing activist Sunil Joshi.
While Aseemanand later retracted this statement, the NIA filed a chargesheet giving a clean chit to the nine arrested Muslim accused and naming these four men.
A special court in 2016 discharged the nine Muslim men, which was challenged by the ATS in the high court. The ATS’s appeal is pending in the court and has not been heard since 2019.
With the high court’s decision, no accused is currently facing trial in the case. The verdict has raised fresh concerns among victims’ families, who continue to await closure and justice in one of the state’s deadliest terror incidents. – With inputs from agencies
