India, Aug. 1 -- A special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on Thursday acquitted all the seven people charged in connection with a bomb blast in Maharashtra's Malegaon town in 2008, saying the evidence against them did not inspire confidence and that it would be unsafe to base convictions on these grounds.

The high-profile order - which came nearly 17 years after six people were killed and 95 injured in the blast during the last namaz of the day at a public compound on September 29, 2008 - cleared former Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker Pragya Singh Thakur, 55, and Lt. Col Prasad Purohit, 53, who was an officer with the Indian army.

"Terror has no religion, as no religion promotes violence," said special NIA judge AK Lahoti whi...