Seventeen years after a deadly bomb blast shook Malegaon in Maharashtra, a special court on Thursday acquitted all seven accused in the case, including BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit.

Delivering the verdict, Special Judge A.K. Lahoti said that mere suspicion could not be the basis for a conviction and that the prosecution had failed to prove the charges beyond reasonable doubt.

“There has undoubtedly been a grave incident against society. But convictions cannot be based on moral grounds alone,” the judge said. The case, one of the most politically sensitive in recent history, sparked national debate with the emergence of the term "Hindu terror" after individuals linked to right-wing groups were named as suspects.

Among those acquitted alongside Pragya Thakur and Purohit were retired Major Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi alias Shankaracharya, and Sameer Kulkarni.

The Malegaon blast took place on September 29, 2008, during the holy month of Ramzan. A bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded in a predominantly Muslim area of the town, killing six people and injuring over 100. The motorcycle — an LML Freedom bike — was initially linked to Pragya Thakur.

The case was first investigated by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which alleged the blast was part of a conspiracy by the right-wing group Abhinav Bharat to avenge atrocities against Hindus. The probe was later handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2011.

The ATS claimed that Pragya Thakur owned the motorcycle used in the blast, while Lt Col Purohit, then serving in military intelligence, was accused of procuring the explosives and attending meetings with members of Abhinav Bharat.

However, the court found these claims unsubstantiated. It ruled there was no concrete evidence that Purohit had sourced RDX or assembled the bomb. As for Thakur, the court noted that forensic experts were unable to fully recover the motorcycle’s chassis number, making it impossible to conclusively prove ownership.

Additionally, the court observed that Thakur had renounced worldly possessions and become a sanyasi two years before the incident.

Clearing Abhinav Bharat of any wrongdoing, the court said there was no evidence that the organization was involved in terrorist activities. “Material witnesses did not support the prosecution’s claims. The alleged conspiracy meetings could not be proven,” the court said.

While acknowledging the deaths of six people in the blast, the court dismissed the prosecution's claim that 101 people were injured, citing a lack of sufficient evidence.

The court also directed the government to compensate the victims, awarding ₹2 lakh to the families of the deceased and ₹50,000 to each of the injured.

Following the acquittal, an emotional Pragya Thakur addressed the media, calling it a victory for Hindutva.

“My life was destroyed over these 17 years. God will punish those who tried to defame ‘Bhagwa’. Today, saffron has triumphed. Hindutva has triumphed. The accusation of saffron terrorism has been proven false,” she said, holding back tears.

Lt Col Purohit, speaking separately, stopped short of naming anyone but blamed what he called “mentally ill people” for framing him.

“I am a soldier who has always loved this country unconditionally. I was a victim of some people who misused their power. We endured everything,” he said.

The verdict marks a dramatic conclusion to one of India’s most high-profile terror cases, raising fresh questions about the handling of the investigation and the political narratives that followed.