The National Investigation Agency on Friday filed a chargesheet in the 2008 Malegaon blasts case before a special court in Mumbai, dropping all charges against accused Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and five others, reported NDTV. The agency said it did not have sufficient evidence against her, and hence did not name her in the chargesheet, Times Now reported. Defence lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar said Praveen Takkalki and two others were also given clean chits. Moreover, the chargesheet said the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act was not applicable in this case.

The chargesheet has recommended prosecuting Army Colonel Srikant Purohit for conspiracy and under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. However, the investigating agency has dropped the charges it had framed against Purohit and nine other under anti-terror law. Purohit and Thakur have been in jail for the past seven years for their involvement in the incident that left at least six people dead and 101 people injured when two bombs exploded on September 29, 2008, in the Malegaon town in Maharashtra's Nashik district.

The NIA had earlier named 14 people as accused in the Malegaon blasts, a case first investigated by the Maharashtra ATS before it was handed over to the agency. Purohit and Pragya had moved the Bombay High Court several times challenging the application of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act, MCOCA, against them, and had denied any involvement in the blasts.