Along the Malegaon blast timeline.

27 Sep 2008               An explosive device strapped to a motorcycle detonated near a mosque at

                                   Bikku chowk in Malegaon town

29 Sep 2008               An FIR lodged at Azad Nagar police station at Malegaon

21 Oct 2008               Maharashtra Terrorist Squad (ATS) takes over the case

23 Oct 2008               ATS makes the first arrest in this case namely Sadhvi Pragya Singh as well as

                                   three accused

        "                         ATS arrests LT Col Prasad Purohit for involvement and conspiracy

27 Nov 2008              ATS chief Hemant Karkare killed in a terrorist attack in Bombay

20 Jan 2009               ATS files charge sheet and charges them under MCOCA and UAPA

      Jul 2009               The special court says that the MCOCA wasn't applicable in the case

     Aug 2009              Maharashtra government moves against the special court in Bombay High Court

     Jul  2010               Bombay High Court overturns the special court order and upholds the charges under

                                   MCOCA

     Aug 2010              Accused Pragya and Lt Col Purohit move SC against the HC order

13 Apr 2011               NIA takes over case and holds Lokesh Sharma and Dhan Singh

     Apr 2015               The SC sends back the case to special court to reconsider the applicability of

                                   MCOCA

     Feb 2016               NIA tells court that they'd sought AG's view and MCOCA was applicable

    May 2016               NIA files another charge sheet in special court and asks to drop MCOCA

                                    against the accused and give a clean chit to all seven

25 Apr 2017               The Bombay High Court grants bail to Sadhvi Pragya Singh but no relief

                                    Lt Col Purohit

21 Sep 2017                Lt Col Purohit finally gets bail via the Supreme Court. Later all accused

                                    arrested in the case were granted bail

27 Dec 2017                The special court of NIAdrops the charge that the accused was a member

                                    of the terrorist organisation and was raising funds for it

03 Dec 2018                The trial begins with examinations of first witnesses

14 Sep 2023                Court examines 323 prosecution witnesses; 37 turned hostile

23 Jul 2023                 The examination of defence witnesses completed

12 Aug 2023                The special court records the final statement of accused

19 Apr 2025                The special court closes the trial for judgement

31 Jul 2025                 The special court judge LK Lahoti acquits all seven accused

My take

And that ends P Chidambaram's script on "Saffron Terror" which was his and the Congress's game plan to pin down the BJP!

Tailpiece.

A wet day, couldn't walk on the road in front of The Quarterdeck as it was wet by the early morning rain.