The Caravan archive: Malegaon Acquittals, NIA’s Decline, and Sangh Parivar Terror Links

Welcome to The Backdrop, a selection of fine narrative journalism from The Caravan to put the news in context. The Independence Day Sale is now live. Last week, a special National Investigation Agency court in Mumbai acquitted Pragya Singh Thakur, a former member of parliament from the Bhartiya Janata Party, and six others in the 2008 Malegaon blast case.

On 29 September 2008, two bombs hidden in a motorcycle exploded in the Muslim-majority town of Malegaon, killing four people and injuring 79. Less than a month later, the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad arrested Thakur, saying the motorcycle was registered in her name and alleging she had handed it to Ramchandra Kalsangra, who planted the explosives. The ATS cited witness and co-accused statements that placed her in meetings where the attack was planned.

In 2016, the NIA removed her from the list of accused, claiming “sufficient evidence has not been found.” The agency said a key statement against her had been extracted under torture, and another witness had retracted. On those grounds, and arguing that the motorcycle was not in her possession, the NIA issued her a clean chit. She secured bail from the Bombay High Court in April 2017, and went on to win a Lok Sabha seat from Bhopal in 2019.

For over a decade, The Caravan has reported in depth on the Malegaon investigation and its links to a wider pattern of attacks—including the Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid, Nanded, Parbhani, Purna and Ajmer blasts—attributed to Hindu nationalist groups, as well as the political and institutional forces that shaped their prosecution.

From our archives: An excerpt from our February 2014 cover story The Believer by Leena Gita Reghunath, former editorial manager at The Caravan, traces the links between Thakur, Joshi and Swami Aseemanand. It details their alleged roles in the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombing that killed 68 people.

How Pragya Singh Thakur, Sunil Joshi and Aseemanand planned the Samjhauta Express blast

Swami Aseemanand’s radical service to the Sangh

Read the transcript of Aseemanand’s interviews with Reghunath

The National Investigation Agency’s loss of credibility

An RSS worker trained in firearms and bomb-making reveals the Sangh’s extremist underbelly

Also read about the Nanded bomb blast & the CBI’s handling of the case—a series of investigations by Sagar: These investigations were not botched from the very start. A close reading of the various case materials makes clear that CBI and ATS officers had performed their duties commendably in the initial days of the investigations. Aseemanand himself told Reghunath that the CBI officers who arrested him were intelligent and knew everything about the plot even before they interrogated him. “The CBI knew how to behave with me, what to get out of me,” he said. “They had proper information about us.”

CBI opposes RSS witness’s affidavit accusing VHP secretary general

Judge changed in Nanded blast case on the day of Yashwant Shinde’s second hearing

Did CBI use a mystery man to deflect attention from RSS’s role?

Court rejects former RSS man’s request to give witness against VHP leader

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The RSS Does Not Exist – on paper

Professor’s Harassment by ABVP Shows Near-Complete Takeover of Universities by RSS-BJP

Mumbai: St Xavier’s College cancels Stan Swamy lecture after ABVP protests

The Supreme Court, Gandhi and the RSS

Lowering the Bar

A Pathetic Apologist

Calicut professor booked for Facebook post praising Godse. (Withdraw the case)