Mumbai, Aug. 2 -- The special National Investigation Agency (NIA) court, in its acquittal order in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, has highlighted a running battle between the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and the NIA, pointing out stark contradictions in their probe. The Maharashtra ATS, which probed the case from 2008 to 2011, alleged that the accused formed Abhinav Bharat as a terror outfit to attack Muslims, and invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). It claimed that meetings to plan the blast were held in Bhopal and Nashik, and Lt Col Prasad Purohit had sourced RDX from Kashmir, assembled the bomb at his residence in Pune and handed it over to an absconding accused who fitted it on a motorcycle. The NIA, which took over the probe in 2011, dropped MCOCA and introduced doubts about the ATS's timeline, witness credibility, and evidence collection. It claimed the bomb was fitted to the two-wheeler in Indore, and later brought to Malegaon. "Two parallel investigations cannot proceed on divergent foundational premises," the court said. "The contradiction between the approaches of the ATS and the NIA creates serious doubt on the prosecution's reliability and coherence."htc...