MUMBAI: Bombay high court on Wednesday allowed appeals filed by four accused in the 2006 Malegaon blasts case to challenge the charge framed against them under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA (Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act) and other offences under the Indian Penal Code, including murder, attempt to murder, attempting to cause communal breach of peace. They had sought quashing of the charges framed, and on Wednesday, Chief Justice Shree Chandrashekhar and Justice SC Chandak, pronouncing the judgment, said, “Appeals are allowed.”On Sept 8, 2006, at about 13:50 hrs, four bombs exploded in Malegaon. Three of them went off in the compound of Hamidiya Masjid and Bada Kabrastan, while the fourth exploded at Mushawart Chowk in Malegaon.Nineteen years after four blasts took 31 lives in Malegaon, a special trial court in Mumbai last year on Sept 30 framed 19 charges against four accused, including under the Explosives Act. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) filed a chargesheet in the case.Accused Manohar Narwaria, Rajendra Chaudhary, Dhan Singh and Lokesh Sharma, on charges being read out, pleaded not guilty. But they approached the HC in appeal this year to challenge the charge framed. Their lawyer Kaushik Mhatre argued that there was no evidence and no case made out against them, and Chaudhary and Dhan Singh said the identification parade was done after six and a half years.The defence counsel Girish Kulkarni and Mhatre argued that the prime evidence of a confession statement of Swami Aseemanand, on the basis of which they were arrested, was rejected by two special NIA courts in Hyderabad in another blast case trial and elsewhere, rendering the case against them sans any basis and precluding the need of any trial. The Hyderabad NIA court rejected the confession statement on the grounds that it was recorded under “duress and coercion”.The appeals also contended that the four were granted bail by the HC, which, on considering the NIA probe, observed that there was no evidence collected to show any incriminating recovery from these four accused.Out of the three bombs, one was placed at the entrance iron gate of Hamidiya Masjid and Bada Kabrastan, second on the bicycle parked at the parking lot situated inside the compound, third one was hung on the power supply room situated in front of Vaju Khana inside the compound, and the fourth bomb went off at the crowded junction of Mushawart Chowk, which was placed on the bicycle near the electric pole. Together, the explosions killed 31 persons and left over 312 others injured.The NIA, represented by Additional Solicitor General Anil Singh and CBI special public prosecutor Kuldeep Patil, opposed the appeals on merit. The NIA case was that the ultimate intention was to cause communal disharmony as the day and timing of the blasts, Friday, after the prayers, was significant for the majority of the inhabitants in Malegaon.The case was first investigated by the State Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), and nine accused were arrested following which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also confirmed the involvement of the alleged nine accused but then the NIA took over on April 4, 2011. The Special NIA court had on April 25, 2016 discharged all nine accused arrested by ATS. The NIA had in 2013 arrested the four — who appealed before the HC. All nine were dropped on the confession of Swami Aseemanand, Mhatre argued and when HC asked CBI had it appealed against the discharge granted to nine accused, the CBI said it had not.In Sept 2008, there was another blast in Malegaon that killed six. Last July, a special trial court acquitted all seven accused in that case including Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and Lt Col Prasad Purohit.The four accused in the 2006 case were not among the seven acquitted in the 2008 case.