2008 Malegaon Blast Case: Coerced By ATS Officials To Name Yogi Adityanath, Pragya Thakur, Said Witness

Last Updated:August 02, 2025, 18:36 IST

The court, in its deliberation, found significant credibility in Milind Joshirao's allegations, saying he was 'forced to give the statement', thereby rendering it involuntary

The case stems from a blast on September 29, 2008, when a bomb attached to a motorcycle exploded near a mosque at Bhikku Chowk in Malegaon, killing six people and injuring 95 others. File image

In a critical revelation from the NIA special court’s order in the 2008 Malegaon blast case seen by CNN-News18, the testimony of witness PW-220, identified as Milind Joshirao of Abhinav Bharat, has cast a significant shadow over the initial investigation conducted by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

Joshirao told the court that ATS officials subjected him to coercion, pressuring him to falsely implicate prominent right-wing figures, including Yogi Adityanath, Indresh Kumar, Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Kakaji, Aseemanand, and Professor Deodhar, in connection with the case.

According to Joshirao’s detailed testimony, he was held in ATS custody from October 28, 2008, to November 7, 2008, a period exceeding the legal limit of seven days. During this “illegal detention" at the ATS office, he alleged that officers repeatedly told him he would be released if he named these five specific individuals. However, Joshirao steadfastly refused to comply with their demands.

During his interrogation, the ATS’s efforts to extract concrete information about a purported “Raigad meeting"—where an oath was allegedly taken to establish a “Hindu nation"—proved unfruitful. Despite this, the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) sought and received permission from the court for a cross-examination of Joshirao. Yet, even under cross-examination, his statement failed to yield any information that would support the prosecution’s narrative. Joshirao unequivocally denied having participated in any such meeting or that such an oath-taking event had ever occurred at Raigad Fort.

On the contrary, Joshirao levelled serious accusations against the ATS, asserting that he was treated like an accused person and forcibly kept at their office for the duration of his illegal custody. He specifically named DCP Shrirao and ACP Parambir Singh, alleging that they intimidated him and threatened torture to compel him into giving false statements. Furthermore, Joshirao emphatically denied confessing to the statement that ATS had recorded in his name, maintaining that the entire statement was fabricated and written by ATS officers on their own accord.

The court, in its deliberation, found significant credibility in Joshirao’s allegations. It concluded that his statement made it “clear" that he was “forced to give the statement", thereby rendering it involuntary. The court further emphasised that even if an investigating officer considers such a statement to be factually correct, its validity and truthfulness are inherently doubted if it has been obtained through coercion.

Yesha Kotak

Yesha Kotak, Special Correspondent, CNN-News18, specialises in crime, court and investigative reporting. She describes herself as a print reporter in TV. With six years of experience in journalism, she has been...Read More

Yesha Kotak, Special Correspondent, CNN-News18, specialises in crime, court and investigative reporting. She describes herself as a print reporter in TV. With six years of experience in journalism, she has been...

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August 02, 2025, 18:36 IST

News india 2008 Malegaon Blast Case: Coerced By ATS Officials To Name Yogi Adityanath, Pragya Thakur, Said Witness

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