A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Mumbai acquitted all seven accused persons in the 2008 Malegaon blast case on July 31, 2025, nearly 17 years after the incident. The accused included former BJP Member of Parliament Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Lieutenant Colonel Prasad Purohit, Major (Retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, Sudhakar Dhar Dwivedi (also known as Shankaracharya), and Sameer Kulkarni. 

The verdict came after an exhaustive trial involving over one lakh pages of evidence and 323 witnesses, out of which 34 turned hostile, significantly weakening the prosecution's case.

The blast took place on September 29, 2008, near a mosque in the communally sensitive town of Malegaon, Maharashtra, during the holy month of Ramadan. A bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded near Bhikku Chowk, killing six people and injuring over 100. The explosion happened just before the Hindu festival of Navratri, raising communal tensions.

Special Judge AK Lahoti, while pronouncing the judgment, held that while a high degree of suspicion existed, it was not sufficient to convict the accused beyond a reasonable doubt. The court observed that the prosecution failed to provide cogent and reliable evidence to prove conspiracy, ownership of the explosive motorcycle, or direct involvement of the accused. The court specifically noted inconsistencies in the investigation, including contradictory claims between the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the NIA regarding where and how the bomb was assembled and delivered. The ATS claimed the bomb was assembled in a Pune house and handed over to accused, whereas the NIA said the bomb was fixed on the motorcycle in Indore and transported via bus. Such material variances undermined the prosecution's case.

Further, the court ruled that the application of stringent laws such as the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) was defective in this case because sanction orders were flawed and evidence was insufficient. The prosecution also failed to prove ownership of the motorcycle by Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, noting the chassis number was wiped out and that she had become a renunciant two years prior to the blast, distancing herself from material possessions.

The judge underscored the principle that terrorism has no religion and convictions cannot be based on moral grounds or suspicion alone, stating, "Mere suspicion cannot take the place of real proof," and "Terrorism has no religion, as no religion promotes violence." Thus, the accused deserved the benefit of doubt.

After nearly 17 years, the court acquitted all accused and ordered the Maharashtra government to pay compensation of ₹2 lakh to the families of each deceased and ₹50,000 to each injured victim. The verdict marked the closure of a highly sensitive and politically charged case that had seen transfers of investigation from the ATS to the NIA in 2011, with supplementary charge sheets filed in later years dropping charges against some accused due to insufficient evidence.

The trial and verdict attracted strong political reactions, with celebrations among supporters of the accused and calls for apologies from political opponents, reflecting the case's communal and political significance in Maharashtra and India.

The NIA court’s verdict in the 2008 Malegaon blast case hinged on the lack of conclusive and cogent evidence, contradictions in prosecution accounts, procedural flaws related to the invocation of anti-terror laws, and the failure to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt, leading to the acquittal of all seven accused after nearly two decades of legal proceedings.