Malegaon 2008: Busting The Myth Of Saffron Terror | Jagran Opinion

The Malegaon 2008 bomb blasts case is a landmark in judicial history because it punctured the myth of saffron terror invented to balance the wave of terrorist attacks by groups espousing a virulent strain of Islamic fundamentalism. Many events were artificially linked to suit the narrative, until they collapsed.

Samjhauta Express

The failure of the Hindu terror story began with the bomb blasts in the Delhi-to-Lahore Samjhauta Express at Panipat, Haryana, on February 18, 2007, in which 68 persons died. Attempts were made to implicate Lt Col Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya and Swami Aseemanand in the blasts. It was alleged that Purohit stole 60 kg of RDX for the bombs, but the charge was dropped when the forensic report said the bomb was made of fuel oils, potassium chlorate and sulphur.

Moreover, American investigators stated that Pakistani national, Arif Qasmani, was behind the Mumbai 2006 train blasts and Samjhauta Express blasts, and Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami (HuJI) caused the Mecca Masjid blast. Qasmani (Lashkar-e-Toiba) raised funds from Dawood Ibrahim for the July 2006 train bombing. He was designated as a terrorist by the United States and United Nations in 2009.

Malegaon 2006

The first blast in Malegaon (September 8, 2006) killed over 30 persons. In December 2006, the Maharashtra ATS filed a charge sheet against nine persons with alleged links with the Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the Pakistani LeT. Due to pressure from political parties and minority leaders, the case was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and later the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

Swami Aseemanand, an anti-evangelist from Dangs, Gujarat, allegedly confessed in January 2011, that Hindu groups caused the Samjhauta Express blasts. However, in October 2008, Safdar Nagori had admitted that the blasts were carried out by SIMI activists and Pakistanis (Arif Qasmani, LeT). Aseemanand said late Sunil Joshi had claimed credit for the blasts. This has no evidentiary value.

The NIA claimed that the 2006 Malegaon blasts, terrorist strikes in Hyderabad, 2008 Malegaon, Ajmer Sharif and Samjhauta Express blasts were the handiwork of Hindus seeking revenge against jihadi terrorism. It said Swami Aseemanand and Pragya Thakur were the main accused in the charge sheet filed on May 22, 2013. As there was no credible evidence against them, it avoided reference to Pragya Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit, who were accused in the 2008 Malegaon blasts.

Malegaon 2008

On September 29, 2008, two low intensity bombs exploded, killing seven persons. The bombs were fitted onto a motorcycle allegedly belonging to Pragya Thakur (the bike was sold to Sunil Joshi before taking sanyas, he died before changing the ownership deed). The police arrested Sadhvi Pragya and five others from Madhya Pradesh; Lt Col Purohit was arrested in November 2008.

Initially (October 31, 2008), the ATS said one Kulkarni of Abhinav Bharat Sansthan had revealed a Bangladeshi link to the terror strike, to avenge the Ahmedabad blasts in July 2008. This angle quickly disappeared. There was talk of the net spreading to an important leader in Gorakhpur, which also fizzled out. In November 2008, the ATS arrested Swami Amritananda Dev Tirtha, Sankaracharya of the PoK-based Sri Sharada Sarvagya Peeth. This case was quietly dropped.

On January 19, 2009, the ATS filed a charge sheet naming Lt Col Prasad Purohit as the main conspirator for providing explosives and Pragya Thakur for arranging the persons who planted them. The charge flopped.

After getting bail (September 2017), Purohit wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hinting that the president of a major political party was behind the conspiracy. He was taking an 18-month Arabic course in Pachmarhi, MP, at the time of the blast, while continuing to gather intelligence. He reportedly uncovered information about the forthcoming Mumbai attack of November 2008, which possibly led to his downfall.

On October 24, 2008, Col R K Srivastava arrived at Pachmarhi from Army Headquarters to bring Purohit to Delhi to meet with Military Intelligence-20. On October 29, 2008, the Adjutant of the Army Education Corps and Training Centre (AEC) gave Purohit his movement order (so he could leave the station). Srivastava asked him to leave his mobile phone with the Adjutant.

At the Bhopal Airport, Col Srivastava forced him to board a flight to Mumbai, under a false movement order. An Army Court of Inquiry in 2009 upheld Purohit’s claim of abduction, kidnapping and illegal detention by Col Srivastava. In Mumbai, Purohit was taken to a bungalow at Khandala, where he remained until November 4, 2008, in the illegal custody of ATS officers, who subjected him to mental and physical torture.

The worst offenders included then ATS chief, Hemant Karkare (d. Mumbai 2008), then Addl. DG Police, Parambir Singh, inspector Arun Khanvilkar (dismissed from service in another matter), and then Asst. CP, Mohan Kulkarni (retd). Purohit became Accused No. 9 in the Malegaon 2008 bomb blast case.

Prior to the posting in Pachmarhi, Purohit worked with the Southern Command Liaison Unit, Pune. One of his registered intelligence sources, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, was made Accused No. 11 in the Malegaon case – a serious leak by MI sources.

The ATS claimed to have found traces of RDX allegedly used in the Malegaon blast at Chaturvedi’s house. But during the Army’s Court of Inquiry, Major Pravin Khanzade and Subedar Keshav Pawar testified that on November 3, 2008 (17 days before Chaturvedi’s arrest), they had caught ATS officer Shekhar Bagade planting evidences at Chaturvedi’s house. Moreover, as in the Samjhauta Express case, RDX was not used in Malegaon 2008 blasts.

In 2013, under pressure from the Central Information Commission (CIC), the Army authorities admitted to receiving intelligence from Purohit regarding a fake currency racket with modules in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Gujarat, and involving certain top politicians, police and Government officials. This compromised national security and Purohit was possibly implicated because he was getting ‘too close’ to some high profile persons.

Sadhvi Pragya

Sadhvi Pragya was illegally detained for 13 days from October 10-23, without any woman constable present. She was tortured and had to be hospitalised for six days before being formally arrested on October 23, 2008. Her narco and polygraph tests failed to reveal any crime. Called in connection with Malegaon 2006, she was implicated in the Malegaon 2008 bomb blasts case as the ATS freely mixed facts.

Mumbai 2008

The Mumbai blasts of November 26-28, 2008 took 166 lives. The Hindu community may have been blamed for this commando operation, but for the arrest of kalava-wearing Ajmal Kasab by sub-inspector Tukaram Omble, who made the supreme sacrifice in doing so. Despite overwhelming evidence of the involvement of Pakistan’s ISI in the attack, Congress leader Digvijay Singh brazenly released a book titled “RSS ki Saazish” in 2010.

The cumulative impact of the Batla House encounter; shooting of a terrorist at Ansal Plaza, Delhi; shooting of Mumbai’s Ishrat Jehan and associate in Ahmedabad, Gujarat; nabbing three wanted men from Andhra Pradesh; crackdown in Azamgarh, UP, and concern for a committed vote bank, led the regime to invent a bogey called “Hindu Terror.” It took 17 long years for the innocents caught in the canard to be acquitted (July 31, 2025). Police investigative methods must adhere to higher standards.

(The columnist is a senior journalist, researcher and writer. Views expressed are personal.)