Maharashtra
2006 Malegaon bomb blasts case: NIA Relied On Hearsay Witnesses, Inadmissible Evidence, HC Discharges Four Persons
Mumbai: The Bombay High Court, while quashing the charges against four accused in the 2006 Malegaon bomb blasts case, sharply criticised the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for relying on “ “hearsay witnesses” and “inadmissible evidence” while ignoring earlier findings of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).
The court noted that there were “diagonally opposite stories” put forth by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and NIA, that could not be “reconciled by any stretch of imagination”.
A bench of Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice Shyam Chandak, on Wednesday, set aside the September 30, 2025 order of a special NIA court, holding that there was “no sufficient material on record to proceed” against the accused. The court discharged Manohar Narwaria, Rajendra Chaudhary, Dhan Singh and Lokesh Sharma, effectively leaving no accused currently facing trial in the case. The detailed judgement copy was made available late at night.
The HC passed the judgment while allowing an appeal filed by two of the accused challenging the trial court’s decision framing charges against them.
The bench underscored that at the stage of framing charges, a judge must apply judicial mind and cannot act as a “mere post office” at the behest of the prosecution. It noted that charges can only be framed when there are grounds to presume that the accused has committed an offence, adding that such grounds were absent in the present case.
The court found serious inconsistencies between the investigations conducted by the ATS and the NIA, observing: “The diagonally opposite stories in the charge-sheet filed by the ATS and the NIA lead nowhere,” the bench said, adding that the case appeared to have reached a “dead end”.
Coming down heavily on the NIA, the court noted that most of the witnesses cited by the agency were “hearsay witnesses” and that the material it relied upon — including evidence relating to the purchase of bicycles allegedly used in the blasts — could not be treated as incriminating. Even if such material were assumed to be truthful, it was insufficient to link the accused to the crime, the court said.
The bench also rejected the evidentiary value of disclosure statements and retracted confessions relied upon by the NIA. “A witness who gives two versions of a story and retracts his previous statement becomes an unreliable witness and his testimony is liable to be discarded,” the court observed. It reiterated that criminal jurisprudence does not accept the presumption that a confession necessarily implies guilt.
The court further held that the NIA’s so-called “further investigation” amounted to a fresh probe, which is impermissible in law. It questioned why the agency failed to collect fresh, independent evidence and instead relied heavily on retracted statements of accused persons and witnesses.
Importantly, the bench said that evidence collected by the ATS — including forensic reports indicating the presence of RDX and other explosive materials — could not simply be ignored. “The evidence collected by the ATS… is not wiped out from the record,” it said, raising concerns over how the trial court overlooked such material while framing charges.
Finding that the special judge had failed to properly evaluate admissible evidence and had relied on material that could not be legally sustained, the High Court concluded that the order framing charges was unsustainable.
“The Special Judge did not apply his judicial mind… and considered materials which are not admissible in evidence,” the bench held, while discharging the accused and releasing them from their bail bonds.
The 2006 blasts in Malegaon, a textile town in the Nashik district, occurred on September 8, leaving 31 people dead and over 100 injured. Four bombs exploded near the Hamidia Mosque and the Bade Kabristan area during Friday prayers. A few days later, on September 13, a “fake” bomb was recovered from the staircase of the Mohammedia Mosque.
Following the explosions, an offence was registered under provisions of the Indian Penal Code, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and other laws against unknown persons. The initial probe was conducted by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), which arrested several individuals and filed a chargesheet in December 2006. Subsequently, the investigation was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in February 2007, which filed a supplementary chargesheet. The case was later handed over to the NIA in April 2011.
Maharashtra
Body of minor girl recovered from Kandivali Santa nagar forest in Mumbai; police investigation concludes that lover killed lover

Mumbai: After the mutilated body of a minor girl aged 16 to 17 was found in the Kandivali Samta Nagar area, the police have claimed to have arrested her lover. The body was found in the forest on July 10. The police identified the body and after technical investigation and panchnama, the police traced the accused. An FSL was conducted on the body of the deceased. After the identification of the victim, when her heirs and relatives were questioned, it was found that she was having an affair with Suraj Maruti Waghmare, 21. After that, the police searched for the suspected accused and solved the mystery. This operation was carried out on the instructions of Mumbai Gajanan Raj Mane.
Maharashtra
The Election Commission assured necessary steps for the important demands including two-month extension in SIR, protection of existing voters, complete facilitation to BLOs and grievance redressal.

Mumbai, July 10: A high-level delegation of the Federation of Maharashtra Muslims (FMM) today met the Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra and submitted a detailed memorandum on the issues faced by the public during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state and to make the electoral process more transparent, fair and people-friendly.
The delegation said that since the inception of SIR, the Federation has set up awareness campaigns and facilitation centres across the state, where volunteers are guiding citizens in the enumeration process and promoting cooperation with Booth Level Officers (BLOs). The memorandum was prepared based on public complaints and suggestions received from these centres and various districts.
The memorandum firstly termed the duration of the current registration phase as inadequate and demanded an extension of at least two months in view of the displacement due to heavy rains, agricultural sowing, reconstruction and demolition operations and other practical difficulties, as no immediate elections are expected in the state at present.
The delegation demanded that in order to reduce the burden of additional responsibilities on the booth level officers, they be temporarily exempted from non-electoral official duties, assistant BLOs be appointed wherever necessary, refresher training be given to all BLOs, their contact numbers, offices and latest information on their scope of work be made available to the public, and clear instructions be given to them to provide practical cooperation in resolving the anamnesis and other issues of the citizens.
The memorandum also emphasized that a large number of citizens are still unaware of the SIR procedure, deadlines and required documents, especially senior citizens, women, migrant workers, economically weaker sections and rural population. Therefore, a widespread multilingual awareness campaign through print, electronic and social media, strengthening of facilitation centres and establishment of mobile verification units were requested.
The delegation, while pointing out the confusion in the documentation and mapping process, demanded that comprehensive public guidelines be issued on different types of analyses and the documents required for them, that documentary requirements be eased where old records are not available, that legal changes in EPIC number and name be given due weight in mapping, that the list of acceptable documents be expanded and that uniform written instructions regarding duplicate entries be issued to all field officers.
The Federation also expressed concern that some citizens who had voted in the 2024 elections were unable to find their names or EPIC records in the current process. The delegation demanded that such voters should not be unnecessarily forced to re-enrol and that if an eligible voter’s name has been deleted by mistake, his/her name should be restored through a simple and prompt rectification process after proper verification.
The memorandum also called for issuing notices to strengthen transparency and accountability, publishing detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on documentation requirements and principles for deletion of names, establishing an effective, transparent and time-bound grievance redressal system, implementing a robust audit and supervisory system to monitor the data entry and verification process, and independent monitoring of the entire SIR process.
The delegation stressed that the main objective of SIR should be to include every eligible voter in the electoral process and not to deprive any citizen of his/her constitutional right to vote due to administrative, technical or procedural shortcomings. Therefore, all election officers should be directed to adopt a citizen-friendly approach.
On this occasion, along with Bhiwandi MLA Raees Sheikh, the delegation included Maulana Hafiz Iqbal Chunawala (Member of Shura, Darul Uloom Deoband Waqf), Maulana Zaheer Abbas Rizvi (Vice President, Shia Personal Law Board), Farid Sheikh (President, Aman Committee Mumbai), Shakir Sheikh and Abdul Mujeeb Sheikh.
According to the delegation, the Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra listened to all the points presented in the memorandum very seriously, termed these suggestions as constructive and assured that necessary steps would be taken after due consideration of all these demands keeping in mind the public interest and transparency of the electoral process.
Maharashtra
Mumbai ATS appeals to parents and youth: Do not interact with unknown Pakistani individuals or suspicious contacts on social media.

Mumbai: Pakistani gangster and ISI agent Shahzad Bhatti has started instigating youth in India by spreading hateful agenda and religious hatred to create unrest and sabotage in the country, after which the ATS has interrogated such youths whom this gang had targeted and tried to prepare the youth for sabotage in the country.
Maharashtra ATS had conducted raids since 7 am and 58 teams have interrogated about 102 youths. The gangster used to lure the youth through false propaganda online and on social media and also gave orders to carry out the conspiracy of unrest in the country. The method of luring the youth is such that first on social media, Shahzad Bhatti and his associates Abid Jat alias Abid Chhal, Hameed Memon, Rana Haneen, Ashraf Bashir Alam targeted such youth in India, saying that they are unemployed and can easily fall prey to false propaganda. Along with this, they used to mislead the youth by sharing religious and political propaganda and misleading information on social media and after that they used to offer money to the youth by making attractive offers. After that, they would select such youth, they would fall under the trap of misleading propaganda and then form a group and he had prepared such a group of such youth but the ATS exposed him and foiled his conspiracy.
ATS appeals to parents of youth Maharashtra ATS has appealed to such parents to keep an eye on their youth and if there is any change in their use of social media, then keep an eye on it and if any suspicious activity is noticed, then inform the police and ATS. ATS has made an important appeal to the youth regarding social media, saying that they should not contact any unknown person whom they are not familiar with, along with not believing misleading propaganda and false information on social media, along with controversial and objectionable content and not keep in touch with suspicious and unknown persons on social media, Facebook and other sources. Often, youth are offered many jobs on social media and are lured with money without doing any work. Similarly, the Shahzad Bhatti gang also targets youth. It first selects youth and then involves them in illegal activities, drug smuggling, and buying and selling weapons, involves them in anti-national activities, and involves them in sleeper cells to prepare its agents. Therefore, the youth have been appealed not to fall prey to financial greed because if out of greed they do any small work that falls under the category of involvement in terrorism, their future will be dark. Do not fall prey to false propaganda on social media. It is the responsibility of ATS to ensure the establishment of patriotism and communal harmony in the country. Therefore, ATS takes action against such elements and has also intensified Operation Shahzad Bhatti.
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