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Rasal said that there was “no pressure” on the prosecution due to Thakur’s position as a member of parliament. “No special treatment was given to anyone."

The current SPP Avinash Rasal, however, told Bellingcat that Thakur had provided medical reasons for each absence during the final arguments and that her reasons were considered by the court.

Thakur’s case has been a controversial one, with the former special public prosecutor (SPP) for the case, Rohini Salian, going on record to say that NIA had asked her to "go soft" on the case, an allegation the agency has denied.

As of publication, Thakur has not replied to requests for comment over email, text messages, Instagram and Facebook about her absences from court. One of her lawyers, Advocate JP Mishra, told Bellingcat that he never speaks to her himself and only corresponds through her personal assistant.

A week later on Sept. 10, a local BJP leader from Bhopal posted a video of Thakur attending a groundbreaking ceremony for a temple. Bellingcat was unable to independently verify when this ceremony took place, and whether it was during the period that Thakur’s lawyers said she was seriously ill.

On Sept. 3, 2024, Thakur’s lawyers filed for an exemption for her appearance in court, saying she was “suffering from neurological problems with swelling in brain and is unable to see properly”.

The court has accepted her medical certificates, but judges repeatedly noted her absences throughout the trial. One judge stated that she should be in court at least once a week. In December 2020, the prosecution argued that it appeared as if she was deliberately avoiding appearing in court.

She has been notably absent for most of the trial, citing medical reasons including brain swelling, impaired sight and a doctor-advised bed rest “due to multiple ailments”.

Timeline of Key Dates: 2008 Malegaon Trial

During the time this case has been ongoing, Thakur has enjoyed considerable success in her political career. In 2019, she was elected as a Member of Parliament under the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

In court on Thursday, Thakur reportedly told the judge that the investigation had “ruined [her] life”. She was quoted by several outlets as saying that she had been “arrested and tortured” by investigators, and hailed her eventual acquittal as a “victory of Hindutva”.

Local residents and police officers clear debris at the blast site in Malegaon in 2008. Source: Reuters

On Thursday, almost 17 years later, all of the accused were acquitted, with the judge reportedly saying that the prosecution could not prove that the motorcycle used in the blast belonged to Thakur, or that the bomb was fitted to the motorcycle.

Bellingcat’s analysis of court documents found that she was recorded as present at only three of the 162 court appointments that focused on the final arguments of the case.

The blast was allegedly triggered by a bomb planted in a motorcycle that was registered to Pragya Thakur. She was arrested and later released on bail. Attending court appointments related to her case was a key condition of her bail, but our analysis suggests this rarely occurred.

Data Shows Former Indian MP’s Terror Trial Largely Conducted in Her Absence Pragya Chandrapalsingh Thakur and her co-accused were acquitted of terror charges for the 2008 Malegaon bombing on July 31 this year.

An explosion killed six people and injured over a hundred in the predominantly Muslim town of Malegaon, India. A Hindu nationalist activist, who later became MP, was one of the suspects in the case. Bellingcat analyses the court data of the 17-year long trial. www.bellingcat.com/news/rest-of...

Join us live now to find out how stolen art is recovered using open source techniques discord.gg/2fMCucQ5?eve...

Kenyan Weapons Linked to Sudan’s Civil War | Bellingcat Get more from Bellingcat on Patreon

How did we conduct a joint investigation with the Daily Nation into Kenyan-labelled ammunition crates found near the Sudanese capital, Khartoum? Find out by listening to our latest Patreon episode at: www.patreon.com/posts/kenyan...

Our Discord stage talk where Arthur Brand @artdetective.bsky.social will discuss some of his fascinating art recoveries is happening tomorrow. No excuses - you have to be there

A July 26 SkySat image from Planet Labs showing a large crowd of Palestinians visible around an aid convoy in southern Gaza. There are enough people in the crowd to make it very easily visible in the satellite imagery. There's a large amount of destruction in the area and an IDF outpost is nearby.

A massive crowd of Palestinians surrounding aid trucks is visible in July 26 SkySat imagery from @planet.com near the so-called Morag Corridor at 31.3104, 34.2822 in southern Gaza.

July 26 video from Ibrahim Alsallout on Instagram showed the crowd from the ground: www.instagram.com/p/DMkmVvNo6n...

Have you read our recent report? It offers one of the most detailed looks yet at the use of cluster munitions against civilian areas in the early stages of Russia’s full scale invasion. It is based on 32 in-depth investigations of separate incidents that took place between February and April 2022.

YouTube video by RAINBOLT TWO i took a (definitely not cia) test

We've just watched @georainbolt.bsky.social take on the Bellingcat challenges once again! Think you can do better? Find them all at challenge.bellingcat.com
See how GeoGuessr and locating legend Rainbolt got on here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJXP...

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Bellingcat Stage Talk, Thursday 31/07, 5pm CEST/11am EDT Discord.com/invite/bellingcat , Detecting Stolen Art with Art Detective Arthur Brand

Want to learn what goes into finding stolen art? On Thursday at 5pm CEST /11am EDT we'll be joined by @artdetective.bsky.social , the citizen art detective behind the recovery of over 200 pieces of art including lost Picasso, Van Gogh and Dali works. Join us live for Q&A discord.gg/2fMCucQ5?eve...

YouTube video by Bellingcat The Cow Vigilante Groups #bellingcat #india #cowvigilantes #a;tnews #investigations

Have you heard about cow vigilantism in India? www.youtube.com/shorts/HKRav...

We now have @planet.com SkySat imagery over this area from July 22. A zoomed-in look at the large area of IDP camps shows that they've been removed or destroyed by the IDF.

Also appears the Egyptian Cemetery, a @cwgc.bsky.social WW1 site, has been destroyed or damaged.

www.cwgc.org/visit-us/fin...

The new report with @bellingcat.com is based on 32 in-depth investigations of separate incidents that took place between February and April 2022. It offers one of the most detailed looks yet at the use of cluster munitions against civilian areas in the early stages of Russia’s full scale invasion.

YouTube video by Bellingcat Violence In The Name Of Cows

Multiple photos and videos show members of self-described cow protection groups chasing, shooting at and beating up truck drivers they claim are “smuggling” cows for slaughter. Bellingcat and Alt News look into those leading these groups into violent action... youtu.be/DEAT18WhK3I?...

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"Monitoring US Immigration Raids" with Bellingcat, Evident and CalMatters | Podcast Episode on RSS.com This week we were joined by Bellingcat researcher Kolina Koltai and our long-standing publishing partners Kevin Clancy, cofounder of Evident Media and Sergio Olmos, an investigator from CalMatters. T...

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