Pragya Thakur Claims She Was Coerced Into Naming PM Modi In Malegaon Blast Case

2008 Malegaon blast case: Thakur, who was acquitted on Thursday along with Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit and five others by a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court, claimed she was tortured during the investigation and forced to name several senior figures.

Pragya Thakur (Photo Credit: IANS)

New Delhi: In a startling revelation following her acquittal in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur has alleged that investigators pressured her to implicate top political and RSS leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.

According to an NDTV report, Thakur, who was acquitted on Thursday along with Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit and five others by a special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court, claimed she was tortured during the investigation and forced to name several senior figures. “They tortured me. My lungs collapsed, and I was detained illegally in the hospital,” she said. “They told me to name people like Ram Madhav, Yogi Adityanath, Mohan Bhagwat, and even Prime Minister Modi. They said if I took these names, they wouldn’t beat me.”

Thakur further stated that investigators exploited her residence in Gujarat to push her to link PM Modi to the case. “I didn’t name anyone because they were trying to make me lie,” she said, adding that her experiences would be detailed in a forthcoming book, as per the reports.

Her allegations come shortly after a court verdict exposed inconsistencies in the investigation. A hostile witness had previously told the court that he was coerced into naming Yogi Adityanath and four other RSS-linked individuals, including senior RSS member Indresh Kumar. These claims echoed earlier accusations by Mehboob Mujawar, a former Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) officer, who said he was ordered to arrest RSS chief Bhagwat, a directive he refused. Mujawar reiterated on Friday that there was a deliberate attempt to portray the case as one of “saffron terror” and misdirect the investigation.

Despite these claims, the Special NIA court rejected all such allegations. On Thursday, after a 17-year legal battle, the court acquitted all seven accused, citing the prosecution’s failure to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

The verdict, delivered by Special Judge A.K. Lahoti in Mumbai, absolved the accused of all charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), Arms Act, and other laws.

The seven individuals on trial included Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, former BJP MP from Bhopal, Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit, then a Military Intelligence officer, Major (Retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Ajay Rahirkar, Sudhakar Dwivedi, Sudhakar Chaturvedi, and Sameer Kulkarni. 

The Malegaon blast occurred on September 29, 2008, in the communally sensitive town of Malegaon in Maharashtra, during the holy month of Ramzan and just ahead of Navratri. The explosion killed six people and injured over 100.

Pragya Thakur was arrested in October 2008 after the motorcycle used in the blast was traced back to her. Investigators alleged that she and others conspired to target Muslim-majority areas in retaliation for previous terror attacks. Lt Col Purohit was accused of supporting the radical Hindu outfit Abhinav Bharat and allegedly helped organize meetings and procure explosives.

With the court now ruling in favor of the accused, the focus has shifted to the conduct of the original investigation—and the explosive claims of coercion, torture, and political targeting that continue to emerge.