2006 Malegaon blasts

2006 Malegaon bombings
Malegaon Malegaon (India)
Location	Malegaon, Maharashtra, India
Date	8 September 2006 (UTC+5.5)
Target	Vicinity of Mosque
Attack type	Bombings
Deaths	37
Non-fatal injuries	125+
Suspected perpetrators	Abhinav Bharat

The 2006 Malegaon bombings were a series of bomb blasts that took place on 8 September 2006 in Malegaon, a town in the Nashik district of the Indian state of Maharashtra, 290 km northeast of Mumbai. The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) initially blamed the bombings on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), but a chargesheet filed in 2013 put the blame on the Hindu extremist group Abhinav Bharat. On 25 April 2016, the court found the initial ATS charges to be fabricated and released the nine Muslims previously arrested.

The explosions - which resulted in at least 37 fatalities and 125 injuries - took place in a Muslim cemetery, adjacent to a mosque, at around 13:15 local time after Friday prayers on the holy day of Shab e Bara'at. Most of the blast victims were Muslim pilgrims. Security forces spoke of "two bombs attached to bicycles," but other reports indicated that three devices had exploded. A stampede ensued after the devices exploded. A curfew was imposed in the town and state paramilitary forces were deployed in sensitive areas to prevent unrest.

On 10 September, NDTV reported that investigators had identified the owner of one of the bicycles on which a bomb was planted. On the same day, police released sketches of two suspects wanted in connection with the bomb attacks. On 11 September, Maharashtra Director General of Police P. S. Pasricha said that the officers investigating the blasts had produced leads and expressed confidence that a breakthrough would be achieved soon.

On 30 October, the first arrest is made of Noor-Ul-Huda, an activist of the Students Islamic Movement of India. The DGP of Mumbai, said that the two other suspects are Shabeer Batterywala and Raees Ahmad. On 6 November it was reported that the prime conspirator Shabbir Batterywala is an operative of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and the co-conspirator is Raees Ahmad of SIMI.