NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has acquitted 30 people in the 1985 transistor bomb blasts, which left 49 people dead and 127 injured, observing that a conviction could not be happen on the basis of “such a faulty investigation”.

Additional sessions judge Sandeep Yadav stated in his order: “The indisputable conclusion is that the investigation conducted in these cases was defective, lopsided, unfair and suffered from various lacunae. Accused persons cannot be convicted on the basis of evidence collected during such faulty investigation.”

The 1985 serial blasts, often dubbed as Delhi’s bloodiest brush with terror, were carried out with transistor-like contraptions with an explosive mixture of picric acid and ammonium nitrate , in addition to dry batteries. Bombs fitted in these transistors went off in Delhi and adjoining areas of UP and Haryana and unexploded bombs were recovered from parts of Delhi.

The accused were chargesheeted for waging war against India, murder, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy and various other charges of IPC and Explosives Substances Act. Of the 59 total chargseheeted people, 12 were declared proclaimed offenders and 12 people died whereas five were discharged in the case. A total of 1,399 witnesses were mentioned in the chargesheets and the prosecution examined 354 witnesses to prove the charges against the accused.

It was observed that the original chargesheet was misplaced and a “reconstructed” one was filed. Therefore, prosecution cannot establish the existence of original documents.

The court also observed that an inquiry was initiated against then court officials responsible for misplacing the documents. The order pointed towards some of the contradictions in the chargesheet in terms of circumstances that showed complicity of the accused.

