MUMBAI: The special judge presiding over the trial in the 2008 Malegaon blast case has been transferred to Nashik as part of the annual routine transfer of district court judges. The trial is in the final stages and a judgment date is expected to be pronounced soon.
The April 5 transfer notification directs judges to finish judgments in all cases in which hearings have concluded before handing over charge. On Saturday, special judge A K Lahoti, after hearing extensive final arguments from both sides in the case over the last year, had directed the prosecution and the defence to wrap up remaining arguments, if any, by April 15.
He is the fifth judge to preside over the 17-year-old case.
Expecting the transfer, the victims had last week written to Bombay HC’s chief justice seeking an extension of the judge’s tenure at the city civil and sessions court to ensure that the judgment is pronounced without any further delay. “The case has been traversing through complex litigation processes, and judge A K Lahoti is minutely aware of every detail of the case. In the interest of justice, we urge you to recommend the extension of the tenure of the NIA court judge until the trial is completed,” said their plea.
Their advocate, Shahid Nadeem, said they are now considering approaching HC. “Justice has already been delayed, and if the presiding judge is transferred, it will cause further delays. We will make our decision after consulting senior advocates.”
The notification includes the transfer schedule of 222 judges and sought responses, if any, from the judicial officers from April 7-14.
On Sept 29, 2008, a bomb on a bike exploded near a mosque in Malegaon, killing six persons and injuring over 100. The state’s anti-terrorism squad (ATS) was the first agency to probe the case, which was transferred to NIA in 2011.
In 2017, the court held that seven accused, including former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, were to be tried for terror charges under UAPA. In 2008, ATS had claimed that the accused were part of a larger syndicate—Abhinav Bharat—and that most, including Thakur and Purohit, had been a part of it since its inception in 2004.
In its 2016 chargesheet, NIA accused ATS of planting RDX to frame Purohit. It sought the acquittal of Thakur and five others, saying evidence against the former was not sufficient to justify prosecution. But while framing charges, the then judge said, “It is difficult to accept the submission that [Thakur] had no concern with the present crime as she was exonerated by NIA.”
The trial began in Dec 2018. In Sept 2023, special public prosecutor Avinash Rasal formally announced the closure of the prosecution’s case after examining 323 witnesses, of whom around 30 witnesses turned hostile. Following this, the court began to record the final statements of Thakur, Purohit and others. Among the other accused are Kulkarni, Ajay Rahirkar, Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sudhakar Dwivedi and Sudhakar Chaturvedi.
