Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has demanded an apology from Congress for “coming up with a false narrative of saffron terrorism” post 2008 Malegaon bomb blast case verdict where the special court acquitted all the seven accused.
“The court’s verdict to acquit all the accused in the Malegaon bomb blast case exposes the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s conspiracy to insult Hindus by coining the term saffron terrorism,” Fadnavis told reporters.
On September 29, 2008, a bomb strapped to a motorcycle exploded near a mosque in Malegaon, a town about 200 km from Mumbai. The blast claimed six lives and left around 100 people injured. Initially investigated by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), the case was handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in 2011. Among the seven individuals accused in the case are former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit.
Deputy chief minister and Shiv Sena president Eknath Shinde said the Congress hatched a plan to defame the Hindu community by using the term “saffron terrorism”.
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Meanwhile, the Congress hit back, saying the investigators botched up the case under political pressure. Maharashtra Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal questioned whether the state government would file an appeal against the verdict, similar to its response when the Bombay High Court acquitted the 12 individuals convicted in the 2006 Mumbai train bombings on July 21.
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